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McPherson v. Lake Area Medical Center5/24/2000
561 So.2d 1371(La.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 982, 111 S.Ct. 513, 112 L.Ed.2d 525 (1990), the LPCF contested its liability to the plaintiff who had compromised his malpractice claim against one health care provider for $100,000.00, then dismissed the other defendants and sued the fund to recover damages in excess of the $100,000.00 settlement. The court concluded that the only issue to be litigated against the LPCF was the amount of damages sustained by the plaintiff as a result of the admitted malpractice. In reaching this conclusion, the court recognized the impact of its conclusion on the LPCF, stating:
We recognize that this literal interpretation of the statute affords less rights to the Fund when claims against multiple health care providers are settled than when such claims are tried. In the case of a trial the Fund has the opportunity for reduced exposure when more than one health care provider is determined to be liable. But in the case of a settlement with one health care provider for $100,000 the Fund does not have this opportunity in the subsequent litigation with the victim. However, the Legislature chose in cases of settlement simply to declare the admission of liability by the $100,000 payment of one health care provider and did not provide for the Fund's affirmative right to litigate liability on the part of any other named or unnamed health care providers. Id. at 1374.
In Graham, 699 So.2d at 368 (citations omitted), the supreme court reached the same conclusion, noting that in Stuka:
This court rejected the Fund's contention that it could still litigate the issue of liability because a payment of $100,000 had not been made on behalf of each named health care provider. Interpreting the overall statute as dispensing entirely with the litigation of liability between the victim and the Fund after one health care provider has paid $100,000 in settlement, this court held that once payment by one health care provider has triggered the statutory admission of liability, the Fund cannot contest that admission, and "the only issue thereafter between the victim and the Fund is the amount of damages sustained by the victim as a result of the admitted malpractice."
The trial court concluded that since proof of liability and damages of at least $100,000.00 was established by Dr. Vines' settlement with the Bridgers, any evidence addressing the issue of liability, whether it be the liability of Dr. Vines or the liability of others, was irrelevant and inadmissible. At the same time, the trial court recognized that the burden of proof remained with the Bridgers on the issues of [. . .] damages in excess of $100,000.00. . . . . The trial court is vested with vast discretion in connection with the admissibility of evidence. It will not be reversed absent an abuse of that discretion. Maddox v. Omni Drilling Corp., 96-1673 (La.App. 3 Cir. 8/6/97); 698 So.2d 1022, writ denied, 97-2766 (La.1/30/98); 709 So.2d 706.
We find no error with these rulings, including their application to the medical review panel opinion and the panel members' testimony. The trial court prohibited the LPCF's introduction of the opinion and the testimony of the panel members on the issue of liability only. [. . .] To the extent that they addressed the issue of liability only, they were irrelevant under Stuka, 561 So.2d 1371, and Graham, 699 So.2d 365. Furthermore, they would have been confusing to the jury, who had already been instructed that Dr. Vines had admitted liability. We find no abuse of discretion by the trial court with respect to the medical review panel opinion and panel member testimony. Id. at pp. 3-8; 733-36.
We continue to affirm our ruling in Bridges, that e
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