Steptoe v. Lallie Kemp Regional Hospital

618 So. 2d 1008, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 1837, 1993 WL 146186
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 23, 1993
DocketNo. 92 CA 0536
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 618 So. 2d 1008 (Steptoe v. Lallie Kemp Regional Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Steptoe v. Lallie Kemp Regional Hospital, 618 So. 2d 1008, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 1837, 1993 WL 146186 (La. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

CRAIN, Judge.

In this survivorship and wrongful death action grounded on medical malpractice, defendants, Lallie Kemp Regional Hospital (hereafter “Lallie Kemp”), Charity Hospital of New Orleans (hereafter “Charity”) and the State of Louisiana through the Division of Administration and the Department of Health and Human Resources (hereafter “State”) appeal a judgment of the district court, which awarded plaintiffs, the heirs of Murphy Steptoe, damages in the amount of $643,297. Finding merit with one of the assignments of error raised by defendants, we reverse the judgment of the district court and dismiss plaintiffs’ action at their costs.

The facts out of which this incident arose are those reflected by the record and recited by this court in a prior unpublished opinion (Steptoe v. Great Global Assurance Co., Doc.No. 86 CA 1402, Nov. 13, 1987), as follows:

On September 6, 1985, Julius Quinn, while in the course and scope of his employment as a police officer for the Town of Amite, was proceeding north on Highway 51 in Amite, Louisiana. At the same time, Murphy “Crow” Steptoe, Jr. was proceeding east on Sycamore Street.
Traffic at the intersection of Highway 51 and Sycamore Street is controlled by stop signs on Sycamore Street. As Quinn approached the intersection, the Steptoe vehicle entered the intersection, collided with the police car, and Steptoe sustained injuries. Steptoe subsequently died as a result of the injuries he sustained in this collision.

On October 3, 1985, the wife and children of the late Murphy Steptoe Jr. filed suit seeking damages for survivorship and wrongful death against Julius Quinn, his employer, the Town of Amite, and their insurers. Defendants denied the allega[1010]*1010tions of negligence on their part and offered as a defense the negligence of the decedent in driving while intoxicated, running a stop sign and failing to yield the right of way.

The bifurcated trial,1 held in early June, 1986, resulted in a jury verdict in favor of Great Global Assurance Company. The jury found that Julius Quinn was at fault but his fault was not a proximate cause of the accident. The trial judge found Julius Quinn was negligent and his negligence was a cause in fact of the accident, resulting in the liability of his employer, the Town of Amite. The trial judge further found that Mr. Steptoe was 35% at fault in causing the accident and injuries. The court rendered judgment in the total amount of $548,825.00 and reduced that sum by 35% in accordance with his finding that Quinn’s negligence was a cause of the accident. Hence, a judgment for $356,-736.25 was rendered in favor of the widow and children of the late Mr. Steptoe and against the Town of Amite and Julius Quinn for survivorship benefits and wrongful death damages.

On June 16, 1986, plaintiffs filed a motion for a new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict requesting a new trial because the jury’s verdict was contrary to the law and evidence. Alternatively, they sought a judgment notwithstanding the verdict to reverse the jury verdict and reconcile it with the judgment rendered by the trial judge. On September 11, 1986, the trial judge granted the judgment notwithstanding the verdict and made the jury verdict conform with the judgment that he had already signed by holding the insurer of the Town of Amite liable. Defendants appealed.

On August 18, 1986, the widow and children of Murphy Steptoe, Jr. filed a “petition for damages and wrongful death” against the hospitals and physicians who had treated Mr. Steptoe in his last illness. This petition sought survivorship benefits and damages for wrongful death as a result of medical malpractice. It was filed of record under the same docket number and in the same division as the plaintiffs’ prior suit (Doc.No. 76,727, in the Twenty-First Judicial District Court).

On November 13, 1987, this Court in an unpublished opinion (Doc.No. 86 CA 1402) affirmed the judgment of the lower court rendered September 11, 1986. An application for supervisory writs was denied by the Louisiana Supreme Court on March 11, 1988 (Doc.No. 88 C 0298). This judgment’s award was paid to the widow and children of Mr. Steptoe. Satisfactions of Judgment were filed of record for each of the plaintiffs during the first week of April, 1988.

On August 30, 1991, the various defendants, in this suit grounded on medical malpractice, filed peremptory exceptions raising the objections of no cause and no right of action, wherein they alleged the following:

a) That the injury to these plaintiffs has been fully repaired by the accident defendants, and this satisfaction of the obligation to the plaintiffs absolutely released the medical defendants as in solido obligors;
b) That the proper parties to seek contribution from the medical defendants are not the plaintiffs and therefore, plaintiffs have no standing to sue these defendants; ...

The objections were apparently denied and the reasons for this decision deferred to the merits.

On February 23, 1990, defendants filed a motion and memorandum in support of summary judgment wherein they alleged that there was no genuine issue of material fact and that they were entitled to judgment as a matter of law in that the plaintiffs had already been fully compensated for their survival action and the wrongful death of Murphy Steptoe by the former defendants who were solidary obligors with the current defendants.

On December 10, 1990, the district court denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment. An application for supervisory writs was denied by this court on April 3, 1991 (91 CW 0139) wherein the Court “de[1011]*1011cline[d] to exercise its supervisory jurisdiction “as” [t]he relator has an adequate remedy by review on appeal ...”

On August 20, 1991, the defendants filed a second amended answer wherein they raised this defense of satisfaction of judgment by the solidary obligors.

A trial on the merits was held during the week of September 23, 1991. On December 9, 1991, a judgment was rendered awarding plaintiffs damages for the surviv-orship action and wrongful death, on the basis of these defendants’ medical malpractice. The judgment was in the total amount of $648,297.00 plus costs and expert fees.

In his reasons for judgment rendered November 20, 1991, the trial judge also denied defendants’ peremptory exceptions. This timely appeal followed.

On appeal, defendants raise three assignments of error: 1) the trial court erred in denying defendants’ exception of no cause of action; 2) the trial court erred in finding that plaintiffs have a right of action in the instant case; and, 3) the trial court erred in finding medical malpractice on the part of the defendants.

Finding merit with defendants’ second assignment of error, we pretermit a discussion of the remaining assignments of error.2

In the second assignment of error defendants contend that the plaintiffs have no right of action and the trial court erred in refusing to grant their peremptory exception wherein this objection was raised.

Defendants reason that the original tort-feasors were responsible for the subsequent medical malpractice. As such, the original tortfeasors were liable in solido

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Related

Steptoe v. Lallie Kemp Hosp.
634 So. 2d 331 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1994)
Doyle v. Central Louisiana Ambulatory Surgical Center
624 So. 2d 1291 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1993)

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Bluebook (online)
618 So. 2d 1008, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 1837, 1993 WL 146186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/steptoe-v-lallie-kemp-regional-hospital-lactapp-1993.