Husband v. Tenet HealthSystems Memorial Medical Center, Inc.

16 So. 3d 1220, 2008 La.App. 4 Cir. 1527, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 1489
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 12, 2009
DocketNos. 2008-CA-1527, 2009-CA-0002
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 16 So. 3d 1220 (Husband v. Tenet HealthSystems Memorial Medical Center, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Husband v. Tenet HealthSystems Memorial Medical Center, Inc., 16 So. 3d 1220, 2008 La.App. 4 Cir. 1527, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 1489 (La. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

EDWIN A. LOMBARD, Judge.

|TIn this consolidated action, Defendants, Tenet Healthcare Systems and Tenet HealthSystems Memorial Medical Center, Inc. D/B/A Memorial Medical Center, appeal from the judgment of the trial court certifying the matter as a class action. For the reasons fully set forth below, we find that the elements necessary for class certification are present and affirm the judgment of the trial court certifying the class.

Relevant Facts

For the purposes of class certification in this case, the following facts are relevant and undisputed. On Sunday, August 28, 2005, the population of Memorial Medical Center (“Memorial”) consisted of approximately 2000 people, including: 182 adult patients, 16 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (“NICU”) babies, 600 Memorial employees, 850 family members of patients and employees, 20 physicians, approximately 10 New Orleans Police Officers, approximately 15 Louisiana National Guardsmen, and other evacuees.

In the early morning of Monday, August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the New Orleans area. During the storm, Memorial lost electrical power and was subsequently powered by its back-up generators. After the storm subsided, some 12people were evacuated. In the early morning of Tuesday, August 30, 2005, the New Orleans levee system was breached. Upon learning of the breach, the CEO of Memorial ordered an evacuation of the facility. By mid-evening, all 16 NICU babies, a small number of other NICU staff, 1 physician, 18 adult Intensive Care Unit (“ICU”) patients, all babies from the nursery, 6 women with high-risk pregnancies, and 10 to 12 dialysis and medical/surgical patients were evacuated. In the early morning of Wednesday, August 31, 2005, Memorial lost all power. Evacuations con[1225]*1225tinued throughout the day. Approximately 110 patients and numerous family members were evacuated. During the day of Thursday, September 1, 2005, the majority of the remaining patients, family members, staff, visitors, and physicians were evacuated. In the early hours of Friday, September 2, 2005, the remaining Memorial staff and family members (approximately 40 to 50 people) were evacuated.

Two similar, but separate, class action petitions were filed against Memorial arising out of events at Memorial during and shortly after Hurricane Katrina. The first, entitled Leon Preston, et al. v. Tenet HealthSystem Memorial Medical Center, et al. was filed on October 6, 2005, in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans. The second such action, entitled Darlene Husband, et al v. Tenet HealthSystem Memorial Medical Center, et al., was filed on August 2, 2006, in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans.

The Preston and Husband plaintiffs consist of patients, family members, visitors, staff and employees of Defendants, who were present at Memorial Medical Center during and after August 29, 2005 — the date that Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Louisiana. In their Petitions, Plaintiffs complain of damages including wrongful death, emotional distress, and property damage allegedly | ..¡caused by Defendants’ failure to have an emergency protocol in place before, during, and after the hurricane, failure to evacuate, failure to provide emergency backup power, design and/or construction defects, failure to warn, and premises liability.

By joint motion of the plaintiffs and defendants involved, the class certification discovery and class certification hearings in both cases were consolidated before the trial court on June 26, 2008. In a ruling dated September 17, 2008, the trial court granted the motions for class certification and ordered that the plaintiffs’ claims against Defendants proceed as a class action. This consolidated appeal followed.

Class Certification Order

The Class Certification Order sets out the following definition of the class:

All patients of Memorial Medical Center, and visitors on the premises, who sustained injuries including death or personal injury as a result of the insufficient design, inspection and/or maintenance of Memorial’s backup electrical system, failure of Memorial and/or Tenet HealthSystem (THC) to implement their evacuation plans and/or emergency preparedness plans, and/or the failure of Memorial and/or THC to have a plan which would have facilitated the safe transfer of patients and visitors out of harm’s way, and the failure of Memorial and/or THC to have a plan of care for patients and visitors in the event of a power outage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina within the property owned by Memorial on or about the time period of August 26th through and including August 29th and thereafter; and
All persons who sustained personal injury as a result of the deaths or personal injuries to patients of Memorial and visitors on the premises as a result of the insufficient design, inspection and/or maintenance of Memorials backup electrical system, the failure of Memorial and/or THC to implement their evacuation plans and/or emergency preparedness plans, and/or the failure of Memorial to have plan which would have facilitated the safe transfer of patients and visitors out of harm’s way, and the failure of Memorial and/or THC to have a plan of care for patients and visitors in the vent of a power outage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina within the property owned by Memorial on or about the time period of August 26th through and [1226]*1226including August 29th, 2005 and thereafter.
14All persons at or in the Memorial Medical Center facility who were not Memorial employees, who sustained injury and/or damage, including but not limited to, personal injury or wrongful death, as a result of: unreasonably dangerous conditions and/or defects in and/or on the premises of Memorial Medical Center, insufficient design, inspection and/or maintenance of Memorial’s backup electrical system, the failure of Memorial and/or Tenet HealthSystem (THC) to implement their evacuation plans and/or emergency preparedness plans, and/or the failure of Memorial and/or THC to have a plan of care for patients, visitors and invitees in the event of a prolonged power outage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina within the property owned by Memorial on or about the time period of August 26, 2005 through and including August 29, 2005 and thereafter; and
All persons who sustained injury as a result of the death or personal injury to any person at or in the Memorial Medical Center facility (who was not a Memorial employee who sustained injury and/or damage, including but not limited to personal injury or wrongful death, as a result of: unreasonably dangerous conditions and/or defects in and/or on the premises of Memorial Medical Center, insufficient design, inspection and/or maintenance of Memorials’ backup electrical system, the failure of Memorial and/or THC to implement their evacuation plans and/or emergency preparedness plans, and/or the failure of Memorial and/or THC to have a plan which would have facilitated the safe transfer of patients, visitors and invitees out of harms’ way, and the failure of Memorial and/or THC to have a plan of care for patients, visitors and invitees in the vent of a prolonged power outage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina within the property owned by Memorial on or about the time period of August 26, 2005 through and including August 29th, 205 and thereafter.

Law and Discussion

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Husband v. TENET HEALTH. MEMOR. MED. CENTER
16 So. 3d 1220 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
16 So. 3d 1220, 2008 La.App. 4 Cir. 1527, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 1489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/husband-v-tenet-healthsystems-memorial-medical-center-inc-lactapp-2009.