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Cardinal Glennon Hospital v. American Cyanamid Co.6/1/1999
This slip opinion is subject to revision and may not reflect the final opinion adopted by the Court.
Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District
Appeal From: Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, Hon. David C. Mason
Citation:
Opinion Vote: AFFIRMED. Pudlowski, P.J., and Ahrens, J., concur.
Opinion:
Plaintiff, Cardinal Glennon Hospital , appeals from the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants, American Cyanamid Company and Hesselberg Drug Company, in an action for contribution and indemnification and from the dismissal of its action for fraud against American Cyanamid Company which it brought after settling a medical malpractice action. We affirm.
The record reveals that the underlying medical malpractice action was brought in 1987 by Danny Callahan, a permanent triplegic, against St. Louis University (hereinafter SLU), Cardinal Glennon Hospital (hereinafter Cardinal Glennon), Dr. Paul G. Fetick, and the present defendant, American Cyanamid Company (hereinafter American Cyanamid) for causing Danny's paralysis from polio. See Callahan v. Cardinal Glennon Hosp., 863 S.W.2d 852, 856-857 (Mo. banc 1993) (hereinafter Callahan I) (setting forth the factual details of the malpractice action). American Cyanamid was the manufacturer of Orimune, the live polio vaccine given to Danny. In July 1990, Dr. Fetick, Danny's pediatrician, settled with him for $290,000.00. Sometime thereafter, American Cyanamid was dismissed. At the time of trial only SLU and Cardinal Glennon remained as defendants. In May 1991, the jury returned a verdict in the amount of $16,000,000.00 against SLU and Cardinal Glennon. The trial court entered judgment in the amount of $15,710,000.00, after reducing the verdict by the amount of the settlement between Danny and Dr. Fetick; and held SLU and Cardinal Glennon jointly and severally liable. Both defendants appealed. Cardinal Glennon settled Danny's claim for $4,000,000.00 prior to filing its appellate brief. SLU continued with the appeal and the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in Callahan I, 863 S.W.2d at 873. This court later held that SLU was required to pay the remaining $11,710,000.00 plus interest to Danny. Callahan v. Cardinal Glennon Children's Hosp., 901 S.W.2d 270 (Mo. App. E.D. 1995) (hereinafter Callahan II). In February 1994, American Cyanamid entered into a settlement with Danny for $300,000.00.
In May 1996, Cardinal Glennon brought an action against American Cyanamid and Hesselberg Drug Company (Hesselberg) for contribution and indemnification and for fraud. The claims against American Cyanamid were based in part on its failure to comply with federal statutes and regulations regarding the licensing, testing, and manufacture of live oral polio vaccine. American Cyanamid moved to dismiss the fraud claim on the ground that it was a disguised contribution claim that did not state a cause of action for fraud. The trial court dismissed the fraud claim on that basis. American Cyanamid then moved for dismissal, or in the alternative for summary judgment, on the ground that Cardinal Glennon did not obtain a release of Danny's claims against it, a prerequisite to seeking contribution. Hesselberg joined in that motion. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of American Cyanamid and Hesselberg.
In its first point, Cardinal Glennon contends the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of American Cyanamid and Hesselberg because Cardinal Glennon's settlement with Danny did not bar the present contribution action.
When considering an appeal from a summary judgment, we review the record in the light most favo
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