Keefover v. Giant Food, Inc.

574 A.2d 339, 83 Md. App. 306, 1990 Md. App. LEXIS 106
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJune 5, 1990
DocketNo. 1469
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 574 A.2d 339 (Keefover v. Giant Food, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Keefover v. Giant Food, Inc., 574 A.2d 339, 83 Md. App. 306, 1990 Md. App. LEXIS 106 (Md. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

GILBERT, Chief Judge.

As a result of a jury trial in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County (Levin, J.), Terri M. Keefover was awarded $1,000 and costs in her suit against Giant Food.

In this Court, Keefover poses seven issues which we shall address in the order presented. Before doing so, however, we shall set forth the factual scene from which the controversy arose.

Keefover was a patient of Dr. Thomas Ein,1 who prescribed for her a birth control pill known as Lo-Ovral/28. She had the prescription filled at the Giant Food store in Laurel, Maryland. Instead of receiving Lo-Ovral/28, she received and took Ovral.2

[309]*309Shortly after she began taking the Ovral, Keefover experienced symptomatology of being pregnant, including nausea, vomiting, and tenderness of the breasts. After taking a month’s supply of the birth control pills, she returned to Giant to have the prescription refilled. There she learned that the prescription had been previously filled in error. Keefover contacted Dr. Ein, who examined her two days later. Dr. Ein recommended and performed a tubal ligation on Keefover.

Subsequently, Keefover sued Giant Foods, Inc., in a five count complaint alleging negligence, breach of statutory duty, fraud, breach of warranties, and breach of contract. At trial, the only issue that ultimately was presented to the jury was the negligence claim.3 The jury, as we have seen, returned a verdict in favor of Keefover.

I.

“Whether the lower court abused its discretion in refusing to allow counsel for Keefover to call Dr. Ein as an adverse witness.”

Maryland’s adverse witness statute is found in Md. Cts. & Jud.Proc.Code Ann. § 9-113. There it is stated: “In a civil case, a party or an officer, director, or managing agent of a corporation, partnership, or association may be called by the adverse party and interrogated as on cross-examination.”

Dr. Ein did not fall within the ambit of § 9-113; therefore, he could not be called as an adverse witness. See Born v. Hammond, 218 Md. 184, 191, 146 A.2d 44 (1958); Mike v. Service Review, Inc., 19 Md.App. 287, 299, 310 A.2d [310]*310585 (1973). Keefover was not, however, precluded from calling Dr. Ein as a witness, but, in the court’s discretion, she was precluded from asking leading questions. There was no error in the trial court’s refusal to allow Keefover to treat Dr. Ein as an adverse witness.

II.

“Whether the lower court erred in not permitting Keefover to testify to the statements of Dr. Ein in connection with the treatment allegedly forming the basis of the malpractice claim.”

Keefover maintains that Judge Levin erred in not permitting her to testify concerning statements made by Dr. Ein with regard to his treatment of her condition. She asserts the court erred in two respects.

First, Keefover argues that the nature of her claim required her to prove a “case within a case.” Her case-in-chief against Giant was predicated on her showing that Dr. Ein prescribed sterilization to solve the problems caused by the overdose of Ovral and that sterilization was in fact not necessary. In other words, Keefover felt it requisite to her case to show malpractice by Dr. Ein.

Second, because Keefover signed a consent to the tubal ligation, she asserts that her inquiry into Dr. Ein’s statement to her was to demonstrate her state of mind at the time of her consent.

Judge Levin, in sustaining objections by Giant, said: “I am not going to let you get in any evidence as of right now of anything that Dr. Ein prescribed for this lady. It’s that simple.”

We believe the trial court was correct. The statements allegedly made by Dr. Ein are clearly hearsay insofar as Keefover’s claim against Giant is concerned. Searching for an exception to the hearsay rule, Keefover asserts that, if Dr. Ein were a party, the statements would be an admission against interest. The short answer is that Dr. Ein was not a party.

[311]*311Giant argues that this issue has not been preserved for our review because Keefover failed to proffer what she would have testified with respect to Dr. Ein’s statements. Review of the record discloses that, however inartfully expressed, a proffer by Keefover can be inferred from the statement by counsel that “[t]he reason she didn’t [sic] sign was because Dr. Ein told her it’s the only way she could solve this problem. He had given her no other alternative.”

Assuming, arguendo, that the proffered evidence is not hearsay, we find error in the trial court’s refusal to admit Keefover’s testimony. The error, however, is, under the totality of the circumstances, harmless.

It is well established in this State that, aside from showing the commission of error in excluding evidence, the “complaining party must show that the error had a prejudicial effect on the outcome of the case.” State Roads Comm. v. Kuenne, 240 Md. 232, 235, 213 A.2d 567 (1964). See also Rippon v. Mercantile-Safe Deposit and Trust Co., 213 Md. 215, 131 A.2d 695 (1957); Adams v. Benson, 208 Md. 261, 117 A.2d 881 (1955); Baltimore Transit Co. v. Castranda, 194 Md. 421, 71 A.2d 442 (1950).

We are unable to find reversible error in the matter sub judice because Keefover, as the complaining party, has failed in her burden of demonstrating prejudice. Furthermore, had Keefover been permitted to testify as to the alleged malpractice by Dr. Ein, the doctor’s procedural and substantive rights would have been seriously eroded. Because Dr. Ein was not a party to this action, he was not represented by counsel nor could he present evidence that was favorable to him. He was in a position much like the proverbial “sitting duck.”

The trial tactics of what Keefover has coined “a case within a case” were recently addressed by the Court of Appeals in Smith Laboratories v. Teuscher, 310 Md. 676, 531 A.2d 300 (1987). In Smith, the plaintiffs filed a claim against a physician and a hospital alleging medical malprac-. tice. The claim was filed pursuant to Md.Cts. & Jud.Proc. [312]*312Code Ann. §§ 3-2A-01 through -09.4 During arbitration of the claim, the physician filed a third party suit against Smith Laboratories. Smith then filed a declaratory judgment with the circuit court seeking an adjudication that it was not subject to arbitration. The circuit court disagreed and held Smith was subject to arbitration.

The Court of Appeals, in its per curiam opinion, set forth two holdings, one in the opening paragraph and one in the closing sentence. They state, respectively:

“In this case we hold that the Maryland Health Care Malpractice Claims statute, Md.Code (1974, 1984 Repl.

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Bluebook (online)
574 A.2d 339, 83 Md. App. 306, 1990 Md. App. LEXIS 106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keefover-v-giant-food-inc-mdctspecapp-1990.