King v. Comppartners, Inc.

196 Cal. Rptr. 3d 696, 243 Cal. App. 4th 685, 81 Cal. Comp. Cases 10, 2016 Cal. App. LEXIS 2
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 4th District
DecidedJanuary 5, 2016
DocketE063527
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 196 Cal. Rptr. 3d 696 (King v. Comppartners, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal, 4th District primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
King v. Comppartners, Inc., 196 Cal. Rptr. 3d 696, 243 Cal. App. 4th 685, 81 Cal. Comp. Cases 10, 2016 Cal. App. LEXIS 2 (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

MILLER, J.

*687Kirk King (Kirk)1 sued CompPartners, Inc. (CompPartners) and Naresh Sharma, M.D. (Sharma), for (1) professional negligence; (2) negligence;

*688(3) intentional infliction of emotional distress; and (4) negligent infliction of emotional distress. Kirk's wife, Sara King (Sara), sued CompPartners and Sharma (collectively, "defendants") for loss of consortium. Kirk and Sara (collectively, "the Kings") sought general, special, exemplary, and punitive damages.2 The trial court sustained defendants' demurrer without leave to amend.

The Kings raise three issues on appeal. First, the Kings contend their claims are not preempted by the Workers' Compensation Act (WCA). Second, the Kings assert defendants owed them a duty of care. Third, the Kings contend the trial court erred by denying them leave to amend. We affirm the sustaining of the demurrer but reverse the denial of leave to amend.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. COMPLAINT

The facts in this section are taken from the allegations in the Kings' complaint. On February 15, 2008, Kirk sustained a back injury while at work. In July 2011, Kirk suffered anxiety and depression due to chronic back pain resulting from the back injury. In 2011, Kirk was prescribed a psychotropic medication known as Klonopin.

The Klonopin was provided to Kirk through Workers' Compensation. In July 2013, a Workers' Compensation utilization review was conducted to determine if the Klonopin was medically necessary.3 (Labor Code, § 4610, subd. (a).)4 Sharma, an anesthesiologist, conducted the utilization review. Sharma determined the drug was unnecessary and decertified it. As a result, Kirk was required to immediately *699cease taking the Klonopin. Typically, a person withdraws from Klonopin gradually by slowly reducing the dosage. Due to the sudden cessation of Klonopin, Kirk suffered four seizures, resulting in additional physical injuries.

In September 2013, someone requested Kirk again be permitted to take Klonopin. In October 2013, Ali, a psychiatrist, conducted a second utilization review. Ali also determined Klonopin was medically unnecessary. Neither *689Sharma nor Ali examined Kirk in-person, and neither warned Kirk of the dangers of an abrupt withdrawal from Klonopin. Sharma and Ali were employees of CompPartners. CompPartners was a Workers' Compensation utilization review company.

B. DEMURRER

Defendants demurred to the complaint. Defendants asserted the Kings' claims were preempted by the WCA because they arose out of a utilization review. Defendants interpreted the complaint as objecting to the decision to decertify Klonopin. Defendants asserted the utilization review was performed at the behest of Kirk's employer and was conducted in connection with the payment of benefits for Kirk's workplace back injury. Defendants contended the Labor Code set forth a procedure for objecting to a utilization review decision, and that procedure preempted the Kings' complaint.

Alternatively, defendants asserted they did not owe Kirk a duty of care. Defendants argued there was no doctor-patient relationship because they never personally examined Kirk and did not treat him. Defendants reasoned that because there was no relationship, there was no duty of care.

Defendants further asserted the Kings had improperly split a medical malpractice cause of action into two negligence causes of action. Defendants contended the emotional distress causes of action were subsumed by what should have been a single medical malpractice claim, and that Sara's loss of consortium claim failed because there was no underlying tort cause of action to support it.

C. OPPOSITION

The Kings opposed the demurrer. First, the Kings asserted their claims were not preempted by the WCA. The Kings asserted their claims concerned the failure to provide Kirk with a Klonopin-weaning regimen; they were not disputing the decision to decertify the Klonopin. The Kings contended this claim fell within the ambit of a negligence cause of action-it did not fall within the procedures set forth in the Labor Code/WCA for disputing a utilization review decision.

Second, the Kings asserted defendants owed Kirk a duty of care because Kirk's medical treatment was effectively being determined by defendants' decisions at the utilization reviews. Third, the Kings asserted they did not improperly split a medical malpractice cause of action because their cause of action for general negligence was brought in the alternative, in case the court determined the defendants were not healthcare providers for purposes of the *690professional negligence cause of action. Fourth, the Kings asserted Kirk's cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress set forth sufficient facts to support an independent cause of action; however, the Kings also referenced a proposed First Amended Complaint filed concurrently with the opposition that alleged additional facts to support the cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress.5 *700Fifth, the Kings asserted there were sufficient facts alleged to support the loss of consortium cause of action.

D. HEARING

The trial court issued a tentative opinion sustaining the demurrer due to the lawsuit being preempted by the WCA. At the hearing on the demurrer, the Kings explained they were not disputing the decision to decertify Klonopin ; rather, they were focused on the manner in which the decision was carried out-the decision to abruptly halt the medication rather than gradually reduce the dosage. The Kings asserted there were two requirements that triggered Workers' Compensation-(1) the employee was working at the time of the injury, and (2) the injury was proximately caused by the employee's job. The Kings asserted Kirk's seizures did not meet these two requirements and, thus, fell outside the ambit of the WCA. Further, to the extent the WCA encompasses derivative or collateral claims, the seizures were "a wholly separate injury."

The trial court said, "So if I'm wrong on the exclusivity, you trip over another issue which is duty." The Kings explained that a doctor-patient relationship was not needed for a duty to be created. Rather, a duty is owed when a doctor's decision affects the patient's treatment. The Kings asserted Sharma's decision affected Kirk's treatment by effectively dictating the treatment. No other doctor was involved in the decision to terminate the Klonopin ; the insurance company asked Sharma if the Klonopin was medically necessary, and based upon Sharma's answer, the Klonopin was discontinued. The Kings asserted Sharma's decision was negligent because no weaning schedule or warnings about seizures were given.

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Related

King v. CompPartners, Inc.
423 P.3d 975 (California Supreme Court, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
196 Cal. Rptr. 3d 696, 243 Cal. App. 4th 685, 81 Cal. Comp. Cases 10, 2016 Cal. App. LEXIS 2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/king-v-comppartners-inc-calctapp4d-2016.