Valley Baptist Medical Center - Brownsville v. Rosalinda Battles, Gerald Battles, as Surviving Spouse of Rosalinda Battles, Amanda Giselle Battles, as Surviving Child of Rosalinda Battles, and Jeremy Blake Battles, as Surviving Child of Rosalinda Battles

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided March 20, 2015·No. 13-14-00756-CV·Published

Opinion

ACCEPTED

13-14-00756-CV

THIRTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS

3/20/2015 3:57:22 PM

DORIAN RAMIREZ

CLERK

Cause No. 13-14-00756-CV

FILED IN

13th COURT OF APPEALS

CORPUS CHRISTI/EDINBURG, TEXAS IN THE TEXAS 3/20/2015 3:57:22 PM THIRTEENTH COURT OF DORIAN E. RAMIREZ APPEALS Clerk

CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG

VALLEY BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTER Appellant

v.

ROSALINDA BATTLES, GERALD BATTLES, AS SURVIVING SPOUSE OF ROSALINDA BATTLES, AMANDA GISELLE BATTLES, AS SURVIVING CHILD OF ROSALINDA BATTLES, AND JEREMY BLAKE, AS SURVIVING CHILD OF ROSALINDA BATTLES Appellees

Appeal from 444TH Judicial District Court of Cameron County, Texas

for Cause No. 2013-DCL-4983-H

BRIEF FOR THE APPELLEES

MYLES R. GARZA ROBERT GARZA 1200 East Harrison Brownsville, Texas 78520 Telephone: (956) 544-1111 Fax: (956) 544-1108

Attorneys for the Appellees, ROSALINDA BATTLES, et al.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... ii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ................................................................................... iii

ISSUES PRESENTED ............................................................................................ iv

STATEMENT OF FACTS ....................................................................................... 1

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT ....................................................................... 3

ARGUMENT ............................................................................................................ 4

A.

Whether the Appellant preserved the “no report” argument on appeal by failing to timely present this issue to the Court, and instead, submitted a proposed order granting the 30-day extension, agreed to pass the hearing on the merits, and presented this argument nearly a year after the Court had ruled. ......... 4 B.

Whether the case law cited by Appellant supports Appellees'

contention that Appellant failed to preserve the “no report” at all argument to the Court...................................................................... 6

C.

Conclusion............................................................................................ 9

PRAYER................................................................................................................. 10

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE ............................................................................... 11

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE ...................................................................... 12

APPENDIX............................................................................................................. 13

ii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Page

Cases

Bushell v. Dean, 803 S.W.2d 711 (Tex.1991)(op. on reh’g) .................................... 4

Fung v. Fischer, 365 S.W.3d 507 (Tex. App.—Austin 2012), disapproved of by Certified EMS, Inc. v. Potts, 392 S.W.3d 625 (Tex. 2013) ............................ 8

Haskell v. Seven Acres Jewish Senior Care Services, Inc., 363 S.W.3d 754 (Tex.

App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2012, no pet.) ...................................................... 7

Jernigan v. Langley, 195 S.W.3d 91 (Tex.2006)...................................................... 4

Laredo Texas Hosp. Co., L.P. v. Gonzalez, 363 S.W.3d 255 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2012, no pet.) .................................................................................... 7

Otero v. Leon, 319 S.W.3d 195 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2010, pet. denied) .... 4

San Antonio Extended Med. Care, Inc. v. Vasquez, 358 S.W.3d 685 (Tex. App.—

San Antonio 2011, pet. dism'd w.o.j.) ............................................................ 8

Scoresby v. Santillan, 346 S.W.3d 546 (Tex.2011) .................................................. 6

Velandia v. Contreras, 359 S.W.3d 674 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2011, no pet.) ............................................................................................................ 7

Williamson v. New Times, Inc., 980 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 1998, no pet.) ................................................................................................................. 4

Rules

Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 74.351 ........................................................... 4 Tex. R. App. P. 33.1 ................................................................................................. 4

iii

ISSUES PRESENTED

Issue 1: Whether the Appellant preserved the “no report” argument on appeal by failing to timely present this issue to the Court, and instead, submitted a proposed order granting the 30-day extension, agreed to pass the hearing on the merits, and presented this argument nearly a year after the Court had ruled.

Issue 2: Whether the case law cited by Appellant supports Appellees’

contention that Appellant failed to preserve the “no report” at all argument to the Court.

iv

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On July, 24, 2013, Appellees sued Appellant alleging Appellant’s nursing staff negligently caused the death of Rosalinda Battles due to insufficient post- surgery monitoring. C.R. 7-8, 17-18. On November 21, 2013, Appellees served the expert report and curium vitae from Nurse Erin K. O’Malley (“O’Malley”) on Appellant. C.R. 40-48.

On December 4, 2013, Appellant filed its objections to O’Malley’s expert report. C.R. 35-50. In Appellant’s objections, section III titled “[m]otion to [d]ismiss or [a]lternatively to [r]equire [p]laintiff [s]erve an [a]mended [r]eport that [m]eets Chapter 74 [r]equirements” was submitted. C.R. 37-38. Appellants also submitted a proposed order sustaining their objections and granting the 30-day extension to cure the deficient report. C.R. 49. Appellees did not file a response to Appellant’s objections.

On January 8, 2014, the Court set Appellants objections for hearing. App. 1.

Both parties appeared before to the Court to pass the hearing and set a status hearing a month later. Id. The same day, the Court signed Appellant’s proposed order granting the 30-day extension. Id., C.R. 51-52.

On February 7, 2014, the Appellees served, via facsimile and certified mail return receipt requested, Appellant O’Malley’s amended expert report. C.R. 63-66. Appellant did not object to the amended expert report after the 21-day period on

March 12, 2014. C.R. 53-60. The Appellees filed a response to Appellant’s objection claiming Appellant waived any and all objections. C.R. 67-71.

The Court set a hearing on the amended expert report for April 2, 2014.

App. 1. Both parties appeared and Appellant requested dismissal of the case. R.R. II, 5:8-7:2. Appellees’ responded that any and all objections to the amended expert report were waived by failing to object within the 21-day period. R.R. II, 7:3-8:18. The Court did not rule on Appellant’s second motion to dismiss immediately.

On December 3, 2014, the Court set a second hearing on the matter upon Appellees’ request. App. 1. Appellant, for the first time, argued O’Malley’s first expert report was “no report” at all and the case should be dismissed on this basis. R.R. III, 8-11.

The Court denied Appellant’s second motion to dismiss on December 10, 2014. C.R. 75. This appeal followed contesting the first expert report was “no report” at all.1

1 Appellant’s Brief does not challenge any issue of the amended report.

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT

This Appellees’ brief questions whether the Appellant preserved the “no report” at all argument for review. Appellant did not preserve the “no report” argument for review as the Appellant submitted with it’s first motion to dismiss a proposed order granting Appellee a 30-day extension, passed the hearing on Appellee’s first expert report, and presented this argument nearly a year after the Court had already ruled. Thus, Appellant waived their issue for appellate review.

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Valley Baptist Medical Center - Brownsville v. Rosalinda Battles, Gerald Battles, as Surviving Spouse of Rosalinda Battles, Amanda Giselle Battles, as Surviving Child of Rosalinda Battles, and Jeremy Blake Battles, as Surviving Child of Rosalinda Battles, (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Valley Baptist Medical Center - Brownsville v. Rosalinda Battles, Gerald Battles, as Surviving Spouse of Rosalinda Battles, Amanda Giselle Battles, as Surviving Child of Rosalinda Battles, and Jeremy Blake Battles, as Surviving Child of Rosalinda Battles (Valley Baptist Medical Center - Brownsville v. Rosalinda Battles, Gerald Battles, as Surviving Spouse of Rosalinda Battles, Amanda Giselle Battles, as Surviving Child of Rosalinda Battles, and Jeremy Blake Battles, as Surviving Child of Rosalinda Battles) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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