Kovach v. Alpharma, Inc.

890 N.E.2d 55, 66 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 318, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 1514, 2008 WL 2746509
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 16, 2008
Docket49A04-0707-CV-406
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 890 N.E.2d 55 (Kovach v. Alpharma, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Kovach v. Alpharma, Inc., 890 N.E.2d 55, 66 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 318, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 1514, 2008 WL 2746509 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinions

OPINION

RILEY, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Appellants/Cross-Appellees-Plaintiffs, Jim Kovach (Jim) and Jill Kovach (Jill) (collectively, the Kovachs), individually and on behalf of their deceased minor child, Matthew Kovach (Matthew), appeal the trial court’s Orders summarily granting summary judgment in favor of Appel-lees/Cross-Appellants-Defendants, Caligor Midwest, Caligor, Inc., Henry Schein, Inc., and Micro-Biomedics, Inc. (collectively, Caligor); Dynarex Corporation (Dynarex); Medegen Holdings, LLC, Medegen Medical Products, LLC, Medegen, LLC, Mede-gen Vollrath Group, and Vollrath Group, Inc. (collectively, Medegen); and Premium Plastics, Inc. (Premium) (all Appel-lees/ Cross-Appellants-Defendants collectively, Cup Defendants).1

We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

ISSUE

The Kovachs raise one issue on appeal, which we restate as follows: Whether the trial court erred by entering summary judgment in favor of the Cup Defendants. On cross-appeal, the Cup Defendants raise one issue, which we restate as follows: Whether the trial court erred by denying the Cup Defendants’ Motion to Exclude the opinion testimony of the Kovachs’ expert.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On August 8, 2002, Matthew, a nine-year-old child, was admitted to Surgieare, LLC (Surgieare) to undergo a scheduled adenoidectomy. While he recovered in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) of the ambulatory surgery center, Nurse Stormie Cummings Robinette (Nurse Robinette) administered Capital of Codeine, an opiate, to Matthew. To administer the drug, Nurse Robinette used a graduated medicine cup (the Cup), manufactured and/or [61]*61sold by the Cup Defendants. The Cup is made of flexible translucent plastic which is not completely clear and denotes various volume measurement graduation markings, including milliliters (ml), drams, ounces, teaspoons, tablespoons, and cubic centimeters. These measurement markers are located on the interior surface of the Cup and have a similar translucency as the Cup. The vertical distance between the ml volume graduation markings varies: the smallest volume of ml measurement for the graduations between empty and 10ml is 2.5ml; while the smallest volume of ml measurement for the graduations between 10ml and 30ml is 5ml.. The Cup holds 30ml or more of medicine when full.

Matthew was prescribed 15ml, or one-half of the Cup’s volume, of Capital of Codeine. Although Nurse Robinette stated that she gave Matthew only 15ml of Codeine, Jim, who was in the room at the time, testified that the Cup was completely full. Matthew drank all of the medicine in the Cup. At 11:20 a.m., he was discharged from Surgicare. Later that day, after arriving home, Matthew went into respiratory arrest. He was transported to Bloom-ington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead of asphyxia due to an opiate overdose. The autopsy revealed that Matthew’s blood contained between 280 and 344 nanograms per ml of Codeine, more than double the recommended therapeutic level of the drug.

On July 2, 2004, the Kovachs filed their Complaint against the Cup Defendants, which they amended on May 19, 2005. In their Amended Complaint, they assert a breach of the implied warranty of merchantability and the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and they claim strict liability in tort and negligence under the Product Liability Act. Between July 26, 2005, and February 6, 2006, each of the Cup Defendants filed motions for summary judgment. On May 1, 2006, the Kovachs filed their Memorandum in Opposition of Summary Judgment and Designation of Evidence. Included in their designated of evidence was the affidavit of the expert witness, James T. O’Donnell (O’Donnell), a pharmacist. On August 4, 2006, the Cup Defendants filed a Motion to ■ Exclude the Kovachs’ expert witness. In its Order- of June 29, 2007, the trial court granted the Cup Defendants’ respective motions for summary judgment and denied the Cup Defendants’ motion to exclude O’Donnell’s testimony.

The Kovachs now appeal the trial court’s grant of summary judgment. The Cup Defendants cross appeal the trial court’s denial of their motion to exclude the expert witness. Additional facts will be provided as necessary.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

On appeal, the Kovachs contend that the trial court erred in entering summary judgment in favor of the Cup Defendants. The Cup Defendants dispute the Kovachs’ contentions and additionally initiate a cross appeal asserting that the trial court erred by denying the Cup Defendants’ Motion to Exclude the opinion testimony of the Ko-vachs’ expert. Because part of the designated evidence relied upon by the Kovachs in their opposition to the Cup Defendants motions for summary judgment consists of O’Donnell’s affidavit, we will first review the Cup Defendants’ cross appeal.

I. Cross-Appeal

On cross-appeal, the Cup Defendants contend that the trial court erred by denying the Cup Defendants’ Motion to Exclude the opinion testimony of the Ko-vachs’ expert. Generally, they argue that O’Donnell’s opinions are speculative, unreliable, and not relevant to the issues at hand.

[62]*62The Kovachs, as part of their designated evidence, submitted an eleven-page affidavit of O’Donnell in which he describes the particular characteristics of the Cup and formulates several opinions, including that the Cup is defective and unreasonably dangerous as a volume measuring device to administer medications to children and that a cause of Matthew’s overdose and subsequent death was the lack of fitness and defective condition of the Cup. In turn, the Cup Defendants submit, in a separate appendix, O’Donnell’s deposition testimony. In his deposition, O’Donnell testified to the method used to reach his opinions.

Ind. Evidence Rule 702, the evi-dentiary rule concerning expert testimony, provides as follows:

(a) if scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise.
(b) Expert scientific testimony is admissible only if the court is satisfied that the scientific principles upon which the expert testimony rests are reliable.

Thus, an expert must be qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education. Fueger v. Case Corp., 886 N.E.2d 102, 104 (Ind.Ct.App.2008); Lytle v. Ford Motor Co., 814 N.E.2d 301, 308 (Ind.Ct.App.2004), reh’g denied, trans. denied. Furthermore, an expert must have sufficient skill in the particular area of expert testimony before an opinion may be offered in that area. Lytle, 814 N.E.2d at 308. An expert in one field of expertise cannot offer opinions in other fields absent a requisite showing of competency in that other area. Id.

The proponent of the expert testimony bears the burden of establishing the foundation and reliability of the scientific principles and tests upon which the expert’s testimony is based. Id.

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Kovach v. Alpharma, Inc.
890 N.E.2d 55 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2008)

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890 N.E.2d 55, 66 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 318, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 1514, 2008 WL 2746509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kovach-v-alpharma-inc-indctapp-2008.