Hightower v. Saxton

54 S.W.3d 380, 2001 WL 840615
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 22, 2001
Docket10-99-364-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 54 S.W.3d 380 (Hightower v. Saxton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hightower v. Saxton, 54 S.W.3d 380, 2001 WL 840615 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

VANCE, Justice.

Rebecca Hightower filed suit alleging medical malpractice against two physicians, Robert Saxton, M.D. (“Dr.Saxton”) and Fred Walters, M.D. (“Dr.Walters”). Dr. Saxton and Dr. Walters each filed a Motion to Dismiss under article 4590i, section 13.01 of the Medical Liability and Insurance Improvement Act. Tex.Rev.Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 4590i, § 13.01(e) (Vernon Supp.2001). While the motions were pending, Dr. Walters filed a motion for summary judgment. On October 5, 1999, the trial court granted Dr. Saxton’s motion to dismiss with prejudice and Dr. Walters’s Motion for Summary Judgment. High-tower appeals both rulings. We will affirm.

DISCUSSION

Hightower brings five issues on appeal. Issues one and two involve the trial court’s granting of Dr. Saxton’s Motion to Dismiss. Our discussion of the dismissal will concern whether Hightower’s expert’s affidavit was adequate under section 13.01, and whether a supplemental affidavit could have cured its inadequacies, if any. Issues three, four, and five involve the trial court’s granting of Dr. Walters’s Motion for Summary Judgment. Our discussion of the summary judgment will concern whether Hightower’s expert’s supplemental affidavit raised a fact issue sufficient to defeat a no-evidence summary-judgment motion.

Dr. Saxton’s Motion to Dismiss

In November 1995, Hightower injured her back on the job while picking up a forty pound tray of potatoes. Hightower went to Dr. Saxton, who recommended surgery. On December 26, 1995, Dr. Sax-ton performed surgery on her back. The surgery did not help, and on December 11, 1997, Hightower filed suit alleging medical negligence.

On July 20, 1998, Dr. Saxton filed a Motion to Dismiss, claiming that under section 13.01 Hightower had failed to furnish an adequate expert report or curriculum vitae within 180-days of filing her lawsuit. In her response to the motion, Hightower contended that she had furnished Dr. Randall F. Dryer’s affidavit, *383 which served as an expert report, and that all parties had timely received his curriculum vitae (CV).

On October 5, 1999, the trial court granted Dr. Saxton’s Motion to Dismiss, and dismissed Hightower’s suit with prejudice. It is not clear from the trial court’s order whether the dismissal was based on the report, the curriculum vitae, or both.

a. Section 13.01

The Supreme Court recently discussed the section 13.01 requirements for bringing a medical malpractice claim. American Transitional Care Centers of Texas, Inc. v. Palacios, 46 S.W.3d 873, 44 Tex. Sup.Ct. J. 720, 721, 2001 WL 491205, at *2 (May 10, 2001). In Palacios, the court stated:

Texas courts have long recognized the necessity of expert testimony in medicalmalpractice cases. E.g., Hart v. Van Zandt, 399 S.W.2d 791, 792 (Tex.1966); Bowles v. Bourdon, 148 Tex. 1, 219 S.W.2d 779, 782 (Tex.1949). “There can be no other guide [than expert testimony], and where want of skill and attention is not thus shown by expert evidence applied to the facts, there is no evidence of it proper to be submitted to the jury.” Hart, 399 S.W.2d at 792. Because expert testimony is crucial to a medical-malpractice case, knowing what specific conduct the plaintiffs experts have called into question is critical to both the defendant’s ability to prepare for trial and the trial court’s ability to evaluate the viability of the plaintiffs claims. This makes eliciting an expert’s opinions early in the litigation an obvious place to start in attempting to reduce frivolous lawsuits.

Id. Accordingly, the Legislature requires under section 13.01:

• Medical-malpractice plaintiffs, within 180 days of filing suit, must either provide each defendant physician and health-care provider with an (1) expert report and (2) the expert’s curriculum vitae, or non-suit the claims. Tex.Rev.Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 4590i, § 13.01(d).

• If the plaintiff fails to provide a report and CV or nonsuit the case, the trial court must sanction the plaintiff by dismissing the case with prejudice, awarding costs and attorney’s fees to the defendant, and ordering the forfeiture of any applicable cost bond necessary to pay that award. Id. § 13.01(e).

• If the plaintiff does timely file a report, the defendant may move to challenge the adequacy of the report, and the trial court must grant the motion if “it appears to the court ... that the report does not represent a good faith effort to comply with the definition of an expert report.” Id. § 13.01G).

• The statute defines an expert report as “a written report by an expert that provides a fair summary of the expert’s opinions ... regarding applicable standards of care, the manner in which the care rendered ... failed to meet the standards, and the causal relationship between that failure and the injury, harm, or damages claimed.” Id. § 13.01(r)(6).

• If a trial court determines that an expert report does not meet these statutory requirements and the time for filing a report has passed, it must then dismiss with prejudice the claims against the defendant who has challenged the report. Id. § 13.01(e).

In reviewing a trial court’s order to dismiss under section 13.01, we apply an abuse of discretion standard. Palacios, 46 S.W.3d at 875. A trial court abuses its *384 discretion if it acts without reference to any guiding rules or principles — in other words, if it acts arbitrarily or unreasonably. K- Mart Corp. v. Honeycutt, 24 S.W.3d 357, 360 (Tex.2000).

As stated before, it is not clear from the trial court’s order whether the dismissal was based on the report, the CV, or both. It is undisputed that the record contains Dr. Dryer’s affidavit, so we can analyze it for its adequacy as an expert’s report. However, other than counsel’s assertions, the record does not contain evidence of when Dr. Dryer’s CV was originally produced. An attorney’s unsworn factual allegations may not be considered as evidence to support his client’s failure or non-failure to comply with article 4590L See Minns v. Piotrowski, 904 S.W.2d 161, 169 (Tex.App.—Waco 1995), writ denied with per curiam opinion, 917 S.W.2d 796 (Tex.1996).

Thus, we will first analyze Dr. Dryer’s affidavit to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion in finding that it was inadequate as an expert’s report. Tex.Rev.Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 4590Í, § 13.01(1). If the trial court did not abuse its discretion, then dismissal was appropriate. Id. § 13.01(e). If so, we would not reach whether the CV was timely provided.

b.

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54 S.W.3d 380, 2001 WL 840615, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hightower-v-saxton-texapp-2001.