Canty v. Affordable Chiropractic12/17/1998
JUDGMENT: Affirmed.
Appellant Johnny Canty appeals a decision by the trial court granting summary judgment in favor of appellees Affordable Chiropractic Clinics, Adam Rutkowski, D.C., John Strom, D.C., Peoples Chiropractic, Inc., and Dove Healthcare, Inc. in his medical malpractice action. Canty assigns the following error for our review:
I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED WHEN IT GRANTED SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN FAVOR OF THE APPELLEES WHERE APPELLEES FAILED TO PRESENT EVIDENCE, INCLUDING PLEADINGS, DEPOSITIONS, ANSWERS TO INTERROGATORIES, WRITTEN ADMISSIONS, AND AFFIDAVITS, THAT ESTABLISHED THAT THERE WAS NO GENUINE ISSUE OF MATERIAL FACT AND THAT THEY WAS (sic) ENTITLED TO JUDGMENT AS A MATTER OF LAW PURSUANT TO RULE 56(C) OF THE OHIO RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE.
Having reviewed the record and the legal arguments of the parties, we affirm the decision of the trial court. The apposite facts follow.
On January 26, 1997, Johnny Canty filed a medical malpractice action against Affordable Chiropractic Clinics aka Peoples Chiropractic Clinic aka Dove Healthcare, Inc., Adam Rutkowski, D.C., John Strom, D.C., Richard Mulcahy, D.C., and Daniel Kaplan, D.C. Canty was treated by Strom, Rutkowski, Kaplan, and Mulcahy, chiropractors employed by Affordable Chiropractic Center, after a September 1, 1992 workplace accident left him with numbness and weakness in his hands. Canty sought $500,000 in damages.
On April 21, 1997, Affordable Chiropractic Clinics, Rutkowski, and Strom filed an answer denying Canty's malpractice claim of complaint. They also alleged that Affordable Chiropractic Clinic was a d.b.a. and not a legal entity capable of hiring, employing, suing, or being sued. They further alleged that Richard Mulcahy and Daniel Kaplan were no longer working with or otherwise affiliated with the answering defendants.
A case management conference was held on June 24, 1997. In an entry journalized June 26, 1997, the trial court ordered Canty to provide his expert report to the defendants by July 23, 1997. The defendants were ordered to identify their expert and provide a report to Canty by September 23, 1997.
On September 15, 1997, Rutkowski and Strom moved for summary judgment on Canty's complaint, alleging that he failed to respond to discovery or produce an expert report with information about the standard of care in the chiropractic community. Rutkowski and Strom argued that expert testimony was required to establish the standard of care recognized by the chiropractic community and to establish that deviation from that standard proximately caused Canty's injury . On September 19, 1997, Peoples Chiropractic Inc. and Dove Healthcare Inc. also filed for summary judgment adopting the brief, arguments, law and conclusion of the summary judgment motion filed by Rutkowski and Strom.
Canty did not respond to the summary judgment motions. The trial court granted the motions on November 25, 1997. On December 1, 1997, Canty filed a Civ.R. 41(A) notice of voluntary dismissal of the defendants without prejudice. On December 26, 1997, Canty filed a notice of appeal challenging the trial court's granting of the defendants' motions for summary judgment.
Before addressing the merits of this appeal, we must resolve the impact of Canty's December 1, 1997 dismissal of the defendants without prejudice. Although the dismissal did not specifically list which defendants were being dismissed, we interpret it as a dismissal of Richard Mulcahy and Daniel Kaplan, two chiropractors named as defendants in Canty's complaint who did not join in the summary judgment motions filed by the other defendants. Such an interpretation is reasonable in lig
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