Palacios v. American Transitional Care Centers of Texas, Inc.

4 S.W.3d 857, 1999 WL 796777
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 18, 1999
Docket01-97-01072-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 4 S.W.3d 857 (Palacios v. American Transitional Care Centers of Texas, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Palacios v. American Transitional Care Centers of Texas, Inc., 4 S.W.3d 857, 1999 WL 796777 (Tex. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinions

MAJORITY OPINION

MURRY B. COHEN, Justice.

Appellants (“the Palacios”) appeal from an order dismissing their medical malpractice case pursuant to Tex.Rbv.Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 4590i, § 13.01(e) (Vernon Supp. 1999) (“the Act”). We hold that the expert’s report constituted a “good faith effort” to provide a “fair summary” of the Palacios’ claims against appellee (the Hospital) under section 13.01(1) and (r)(6) of the Act. We further hold that the proper standard of review for this issue is not the abuse of discretion standard, as the Hospital argues, but a variant of the familiar standard used for appellate review of summary judgments. We reverse and remand.

Factual Background and Applicable Statutory Provisions

On February 14, 1992, appellant Teofilo Palacios (“Mr.PaIacios”) suffered a two-story fall at work. He sustained multiple fractures and a severe brain injury. After a year of rehabilitation, he was admitted to the Hospital on March 23, 1993. The severity of his brain damage required that Mr. Palacios wear restraints while in his hospital bed. On May 14,1994, Mr. Palac-ios fell from his bed to the floor. He was treated in the emergency room by John Sanders, M.D. The fall from the bed caused further brain injury and surgery.

The Palacios sued Dr. Sanders, Dr. Criep, and the Hospital.1 He claimed the Hospital was negligent in (1) failing to instruct, train, or institute proper procedures to be used in the use of restraints on patients, (2) failing to show its employees how properly to secure the restraints used on Mr. Palacios, (3) failing properly to train and supervise its employees, (4) failing to follow physician’s orders for the care of Mr. Palacios, and (5) failing properly to monitor its employees to ensure that its standards for patient care were maintained.

The Hospital moved to dismiss because the Palacios had not complied with section 13.01(d) of the Act, which states:

Not later than the later of the 180th day after the date on which a health care liability claim is filed or the last day of any extended period established under Subsection (f) or (h) of this section, the claimant shall, for each physician or health care provider against whom a claim is asserted:
[860]*860(1) furnish to counsel for each physician or health care provider one or more expert reports, with a curriculum vitae of each expert listed in the report; or
(2) voluntarily nonsuit the action against the physician or health care provider.

Tex.Rev.Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 4590i, § 13.01(d) (Vernon Supp.1999). An “expert report” must provide a “fair summary” of the expert’s opinions “as of the date of the report,” describing the standards of care, how the defendant failed to meet them, and the harm caused by that failure. Id. at § 13.01(r)(6). Sanctions for failure to file an expert report include dismissal with prejudice. Id. at § 13.01(e). Instead of dismissing, the court granted extensions of time to file the report, and the Palacios filed on time a report by Dr. Bontke.

Following Dr. Bontke’s deposition, the Hospital again moved to dismiss, contending that Dr. Bontke’s report did not meet the statutory requirements for an expert report and that Dr. Bontke filed her report in bad faith because her deposition testimony showed she never held the opinion that the Hospital was negligent. Like Justice Taft, we decline to use Dr. Bontke’s deposition to impeach her report. It does not do so because it does not show that the opinion expressed in her report was false when made. See § 13.01(r)(6).

After a hearing, the trial court granted the motion to dismiss.

Standard of Review

As a general rule, the standard of review for a trial court’s imposition of a sanction is abuse of discretion. Koslow’s v. Mackie, 796 S.W.2d 700, 704 (Tex.1990). Under that lenient standard, all presumptions are taken in favor of the sanction, increasing the likelihood it will be upheld. We do not believe that is the appropriate standard of review here, however. That standard was adopted to deal with misconduct in litigation by attorneys or parties.

This case has nothing to do with that. Article 4590i is designed to give some early assurance that a lawsuit is not “frivolous.” Horsley-Layman v. Angeles, 968 S.W.2d 533, 537 (Tex.App.—Texarkana 1998, no pet.). It is intended to eliminate frivolous claims, similar to the way a summary judgment eliminates unmeritorious claims, by making a plaintiff produce an expert who makes “a good faith effort” to describe a breached standard of care. This threshold is lower than that of proof at trial, as shown by the fact that the report shall be deemed inadequate “only if ... the report does not constitute a good faith effort ...” to give a “fair summary” of how the standard of care was breached. See § 13.01(1), (r)(6).

We believe it proper to evaluate Dr. Bontke’s report against the level of proof required of plaintiffs opposing summary judgment in medical malpractice cases. We hold that the summary judgment standard of review should be used here, not its opposite, the abuse of discretion standard. Under our new rule 166a(i), which is intended to make it easier for defendants like the Hospital to win a summary judgment, “... the [plaintiff] is not required to marshal its proof; its response need only point out evidence that raises a fact issue on the challenged elements.” See Comment to 1997 amendment adopting Tex.R. Civ. P. 166a(i). We doubt that a plaintiff must produce more proof now, at this preliminary stage, than he would have to produce in responding to a motion for summary judgment. Consequently, we decline to protect dismissals under section 13.01(e) with a standard of review less stringent than that for summary judgments.

Dismissal

In points of error one and two, the Palacios contend: (1) if the trial court dis[861]*861missed the case under section 13.01(e), it erred because they fully complied with the requirements of section 13.01(d) and (2) if the trial court dismissed under 13.01(1), it erred because section 13.01(1) requires only a good faith effort to file an adequate report, and he made one.2

We read both sections 13.01(e) and 13.01(1) as applying to a trial court’s dismissal of a medical malpractice suit for failure to comply with the requirements in providing an expert report. Section 13.01(1) provides:

A court shall grant a motion challenging the adequacy of an expert report only if it appears to the court, after hearing, that the report does not represent a good faith effort to comply with the definition of an expert report in Subsection (r)(6) of this section.

(Emphasis added.) Thus, the issue is whether the Palacios made a good faith effort to file an “expert report,” as defined in subsection (r)(6). We address the Pa-lacios’ first two points together.

Did the Palacios Make a Good Faith Effort to Provide an Expert Report?

The Hospital contends Dr. Bontke’s report did not provide a “fair summary” of her opinions concerning the standard of care, nor did it show how the Hospital failed to meet the standard of care, as required by subsection (r)(6).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
4 S.W.3d 857, 1999 WL 796777, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/palacios-v-american-transitional-care-centers-of-texas-inc-texapp-1999.