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Kmetz v. Medcentral Health Systems11/12/2003
Plaintiff/appellant/cross-appellee Andrea Kmetz, Administratrix of the Estate of Jay Kmetz, Deceased [hereinafter appellant], appeals from the June 26, 2002, Judgment Entry of the Richland County Court of Common Pleas which declared a new trial as to damages and awarded costs. Defendant/appellee/cross-appellant is MedCentral Health Systems, Inc. [hereinafter MedCentral].
STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND CASE
Decedent Jay Kmetz died on March 11, 1998, following surgery. Subsequently, on March 1, 1999, appellant filed a medical malpractice claim in the Richland County Court of Common Pleas against appellee MedCentral and defendant Albert Timperman, M.D. Separate claims were based upon the decedent Jay Kmetz's pain and suffering and his wrongful death. Prior to the date of trial, appellant was required to voluntarily dismiss the action without prejudice, due to a scheduling conflict with one of the experts.
On October 13, 2000, the instant action was refiled and a jury trial commenced on February 5, 2002. Midway through the trial proceedings, appellant voluntarily dismissed the claims against Dr. Timperman. On February 11, 2002, the jury returned a verdict in favor of appellant and against appellee MedCentral in the amount of $500,000.00. In their responses to interrogatories, the jury found that 1) MedCentral employees had been negligent, 2) MedCentral employees' negligence had proximately caused injury to the decedent, 3) decedent's death was not caused by suffocation from post-operative swelling, 4) the appropriate personal injury damages were $500,000.00 and 5) no wrongful death damages were owed. On February 12, 2002, the trial court issued a Judgment Entry memoralizing the verdict.
On February 1, 2002, appellant filed a motion seeking pre-judgment interest pursuant to R. C. 1343.03(C). Appellant based the motion for pre-judgment interest upon an allegation that MedCentral failed to negotiate a settlement in good faith. Simultaneously, appellant submitted a motion to tax costs, pursuant to Civ. R. 54(D) and 37(C). The same day, MedCentral served a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, for a new trial and/or motion for remitter. In its motion, MedCentral argued that based upon the juror's response to the third interrogatory (decedent's death was not caused by suffocation from post-operative swelling), the jury could not logically have awarded personal injury damages to the decedent since they found the hospital was not liable for his death.
On February 28, 2002, the trial court issued a briefing Order on post-trial motions. In that Order, the trial court stated that it disagreed that the jury's answer to special interrogatory No. 3 was inconsistent with its verdict. The trial court found that the answers to the special interrogatories were consistent with the verdict for the plaintiff-appellant. The trial court reconciled the responses as follows:
"1. The jury found a hospital nurse or nurses were negligent in their care of plaintiff (decedent).
"2. The jury found that nurse negligence was a proximate cause of injury to plaintiff.
"3. The jury found that `suffocation from obstruction of his airway from post-operative swelling', was not among the injuries caused by plaintiff by the hospital nurses.
"4. The jury concluded the injury proximately caused to plaintiff by the hospital's nurses entitled his estate to pain and suffering damages for his personal injury prior to his death.
"5. The jury concluded plaintiff's failure to prove the nurses' negligence caused his death meant plaintiff's estate was entitled to no wrongful de
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