Lepper v. Eastern Idaho Health Services, Inc.

369 P.3d 882, 160 Idaho 104, 2016 Ida. LEXIS 63
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 4, 2016
Docket43004
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 369 P.3d 882 (Lepper v. Eastern Idaho Health Services, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lepper v. Eastern Idaho Health Services, Inc., 369 P.3d 882, 160 Idaho 104, 2016 Ida. LEXIS 63 (Idaho 2016).

Opinions

BURDICK, Justice.

This appeal arose from a medical malpractice suit, where Charles and Janice Lepper (the Leppers) alleged the negligence of Eastern Idaho Health Service, Inc. d/b/a Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center (EIRMC) and Dr. Stephen R. Maraño, (Dr. Maraño) rendered Charles Lepper a paraplegic. The Leppers appeal the Bonneville County district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of EIRMC and Dr. Maraño (collectively, Respondents). The Leppers argue the [106]*106district court erred in ruling that based on the language of its Scheduling Order, the Leppers’ expert witness disclosures required disclosure of all expert witness opinions, including foundational facts required by statute. We vacate and remand for further proceedings.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On August 19, 2010, Charles Lepper underwent surgery on his lower back, which was performed by Dr. Maraño at EIRMC. Charles was discharged from the hospital on September 3, 2010. However, due to pain and complications following the surgery, Charles was readmitted to EIRMC on September 10, 2010. The next day, a physician’s order was issued directing nurses to ask that Dr. Maraño be contacted to see Charles regarding his symptoms. However, the nurses at EIRMC never contacted Dr. Maraño as ordered.

On September 14, 2010, while still admitted to EIRMC, Charles developed severe back pain and leg numbness. EIRMC’s nurses and Dr. Maraño allegedly failed to take steps upon becoming aware of Charles’s condition to evaluate, treat, or care for him. On September 15, 2010, another nurse took over Charles’s care and performed an assessment on him at approximately 8:32 a.m. At that time, Charles was unable to move his legs and was experiencing acute back and leg pain. However, apparently that nurse did not communicate Charles’s worsening condition to a doctor. Dr. Maraño later testified that “nothing was reported” to him about Charles’s deteriorating condition until he “walked in on rounds” at approximately 10:00 a.m. on September 15, 2010. At that time, Dr. Maraño ordered an MRI for Charles, which led to the diagnosis that Charles was suffering from the effects of a compression of the cauda equina as a result of an epidural hematoma. Charles ultimately suffered permanent paralysis of his lower extremities and has bowel and bladder dysfunction to the extent that he requires a catheter and a colostomy bag.

On June 17, 2011, the Leppers filed a medical malpractice claim against EIRMC. The Leppers subsequently amended the complaint to add Dr. Maraño as a co-defendant. On January 18, 2013, the district court entered its Order and Notice Setting Jury Trial. In that order, the district court required the Leppers to disclose their, expert witnesses, “including opinions and conclusions” at least 100 days before trial, or December 2, 2013. The parties subsequently stipulated to modify the expert witness and discovery disclosure deadlines, -but the substantive language from the original order regarding what disclosures were required remained unchanged. The parties’ stipulated agreement to an extension of the discovery deadlines was formalized by a court order (Scheduling Order). The result was that the Leppers were required to file their expert witness disclosures, including opinions and conclusions, by October 30, 2013.

The Leppers filed their expert witness disclosures on October 30, 2013, disclosing the opinions and conclusions of Bradford W. DeLong, M.D. (Dr. DeLong) and Elizabeth Arruda, RN, BSN, CMSRN (Arruda). However, the disclosures did not reference the experts’ familiarity with the applicable standard of care.

Respondents subsequently filed a motion in limine to strike and exclude the Leppers’ expert witnesses, including Dr. DeLong and Arruda, on the basis, that the expert witness disclosures made no mention of familiarity with the applicable standard of care. On December 3, 2013, the district court entered an order granting the motion to strike the Leppers’ expert witnesses. As to Dr. De-Long and Arruda, the district court reasoned that them disclosures did not include the elements required by Idaho Code section 6-1012, in particular, knowledge of the local standard of care. The district court noted that the Leppers’ duty to disclose “included the duty to disclose all testimony which would establish the witness’ competency to testify.” (emphasis in original). The district court ruled that because Dr. DeLong and Arruda did not affirmatively show their knowledge as to the local standard of care, and how they came by that knowledge, their testimony was irrelevant.

[107]*107• That same day, the Leppers filed a motion for reconsideration of the district court’s-December 3, 2013 order, as well as a motion to supplement their expert disclosures and to extend the expert disclosure deadline. The district court ruled on those motions in an order dated December 5, 2013. In that order, the court found no basis to reconsider its December 3, 2013 order, but allowed the Leppers fourteen days to supplement their original expert disclosures to show Arrada and Dr. DeLong were familiar with the applicable standard of care, or an alternative basis for the admissibility of their testimony.

On December 17, 2013, the Leppers produced supplemental disclosures and reports regarding Arrada and Dr. DeLong. The disclosures stated that both experts had familiarized themselves with the applicable standard of care, as set forth in their supplemental reports. The following day,. Respondents filed a motion to reconsider the December 5, 2013, order granting the Leppers fourteen days in which to supplement them expert disclosures.

The district court granted that motion in a January 14, 2014 order, which stated:

At the time of the [December 3, 2013,] hearing, the court sustained the objection] precluding the testimony on the grounds that the testimony was irrelevant since it was not related to a local standard of care. However, through various statements made at the time of the objection hearing, [the] Court believed that the defective disclosure was perhaps due to inadvertence in disclosing how the experts became familiar with the local standard of care.
[[Image here]]
In review, it is now clear that this was not a situation where there was an inadvertent failure in disclosing how the expert witnesses were familiar with the local standard of care, but rather a complete failure on the part of the expert witnesses to familiarize themselves with the standard of care. As such, as of the time disclosures were due, as of the time Defendants objected, as of the time of the hearing on the objection, and as of the time Plaintiffs sought reconsideration and additional time, Plaintiffs’ experts had still not familiarized
themselves with the local standard of care. There was no showing of good cause why the experts had not previously familiarized themselves with the standard of care, but simply a request for additional time to do so.

Thus, the district court determined that it erred when- it granted the Leppers more time to file their supplemental expert disclosures. Consequently, the district court granted Respondents’ motion to reconsider the court’s December 5, 2013, order. The district court also noted that “[t]o the extent Defendants believe this ruling is dispositive of the case, they may file a motion for summary judgment. The motion may be based on the record without need for a hearing.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Dodd v. Jones
566 P.3d 379 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2025)
Hill v. Blaine County
Idaho Supreme Court, 2024
Lands v. Sunset Manor, LP
546 P.3d 670 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2024)
Phillips v. Eastern ID Health Svcs
Idaho Supreme Court, 2020
Krinitt v. Idaho Department of Fish & Game
398 P.3d 158 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
369 P.3d 882, 160 Idaho 104, 2016 Ida. LEXIS 63, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lepper-v-eastern-idaho-health-services-inc-idaho-2016.