 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Doss v. Manfredi2/15/2002
Appeal from Johnson District Court; LARRY MCCLAIN, judge.
Affirmed.
Julie Doss appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Dr. Ronald Manfredi, a chiropractor. The issue on appeal is whether Manfredi owed a legal duty to Doss.
The controlling facts are not in dispute. Doss' personal injury protection (PIP) carrier, Traders Insurance Company (Traders), hired a claims company, which in turn hired Manfredi to review Doss' chiropractic treatment records and advise whether the chiropractic treatments were related to injuries Doss received in an automobile accident. Manfredi reviewed the records and concluded a portion of the chiropractic charges were not adequately documented as related to the accident. After Traders refused to pay some of the chiropractic bills, Doss filed suit against Manfredi, alleging a negligent evaluation. The district court, in granting summary judgment to Manfredi, found he owed no legal duty that would support the negligence claim.
On appeal, Doss argues her negligence claim is supported under a theory of negligent misrepresentation or, alternatively, under a theory of a duty owed to a third party by a tortfeasor. We conclude neither theory has legal merit under the uncontroverted facts and affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment.
In Mahler v. Keenan Real Estate , Inc., 255 Kan. 593, 604-05, 876 P.2d 609 (1994), the Kansas Supreme Court adopted the tort of negligent misrepresentation, as defined in the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 552 (1976). Section 552 was quoted in Mahler as follows:
"'(1) One who, in the course of his business, profession or employment, or in any other transaction in which he has a pecuniary interest, supplies false information for the guidance of others in their business transactions, is subject to liability for pecuniary loss caused to them by their justifiable reliance upon the information, if he fails to exercise reasonable care or competence in obtaining or communicating the information.
"'(2) Except as stated in Subsection (3), the liability stated in Subsection (1) is limited to loss suffered
(a) by the person or one of a limited group of persons for whose benefit and guidance he intends to supply the information or knows that the recipient intends to supply it; and
(b) through reliance upon it in a transaction that he intends the information to influence or knows that the recipient so intends or in a substantially similar transaction.
"'(3) The liability of one who is under a public duty to give the information extends to loss suffered by any of the class of persons for whose benefit the duty is created, in any of the transactions in which it is intended to protect them.'" (Emphasis added.) 255 Kan. at 604. See Wilkinson v. Shoney's, Inc., 269 Kan. 194, 218, 4 P.3d 1149 (2000).
Based upon the uncontroverted facts, Doss' reliance on the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 552 is without legal merit. Manfredi, in his professional evaluation, provided information for the benefit of Traders, not Doss, and is subject to liability only to Traders if he failed to exercise reasonable care or competence in obtaining or communicating the information.
Doss also argues the negligence claim against Manfredi is supported under the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 324A (1964), adopted by the Kansas Supreme Court in Schmeck v. City of Shawnee, 232 Kan. 11, Syl. 4, 651 P.2d 585 (1982).
Before liability may be imposed under § 324A, there must be a showing that a defendant undertook, gratuitously or for consideration, to render services to another. See Gooch v. Bethel A
Page 1 2 3 Kansas Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|