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Hanks v. Seale6/17/2005
(1971).
When a defendant stipulates to liability, that defendant acknowledges that his or her fault (substandard performance of a legal duty owed to plaintiff for the protection from certain risks of harm) caused the plaintiff to sustain some damage (in the case of the qualified health care provider under the Medical Malpractice Act, that defendant stipulates that the damage he or she caused is at least $100,000).
However, there can be, and frequently is, more than one cause of a plaintiff's damages. Graves v. Page, 96-2201 (La.11/7/97), 703 So.2d 566, 570; Syrie v. Schilhab, 96-1027 (La.5/20/97), 693 So.2d 1173, 1179. Because a defendant is liable only for that damage caused by his or her fault, when a defendant stipulates to liability for fault, he or she does not thereby necessarily concede responsibility for 100% of the fault.
In the same vein, when a health care provider tenders payment of $100,000.00, thereby admitting and establishing "liability," that admission of liability is an admission of fault and causation of damages of at least $100,000.00. It is not an admission of the percentage of fault attributable to the health care provider; nor is it an admission as to the extent of the claimant's damages beyond $100,000.00. Louisiana Revised Statute 40:1299.44(C)(5) speaks directly and exclusively to the liability of the health care provider; it is silent with respect to the responsibility of any other actor.
Louisiana Civil Code article 2323 requires that the fault of every person responsible for a plaintiff's injuries be compared, whether or not they are parties, regardless of the legal theory of liability asserted. As we explained in Dumas v. State, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, 2002-0563 (La.10/15/02), 828 So.2d 530, 537: "The comparative fault article, La. C.C. art. 2323, makes no exceptions for liability based on medical malpractice; on the contrary, it clearly applies to any claim asserted under any theory of liability, regardless of the basis of liability." Thus, in the trial against the Fund, wherein the plaintiff retains the burden of proving that the admitted malpractice caused damages in excess of $100,000.00, evidence that victim or third party fault caused any of the damages is clearly relevant and admissible. Conner, supra. Hall, supra at 568.
The same reasoning applies when a judgment in excess of $100,000 is rendered against a health care provider following a trial on the merits. Thus, while the PCF may not contest the physician's "liability," the PCF may challenge on appeal the jury's finding that the physicians' malpractice caused damages in excess of the $100,000 each physician paid in satisfaction of the judgment rendered against him.
The majority opinion does not address the PCF's argument that the plaintiffs failed to prove a causal connection between the physician's failure to perform certain tests caused plaintiffs' damages, including Mr. Hanks' subsequent complications. The majority opinion apparently takes the view that the PCF failed to assign the causation issue as error in the court of appeal and thus the issue is not properly before this court. I disagree.
The PCF assigned the following errors in the court of appeal:
1. The jury committed manifest error in finding that plaintiffs established the applicable standards of care with regard to the preoperative, operative and post-operative treatment afforded Mr. Hanks in this case and, assuming the standards of care were proved, in finding that Drs. Seale and Ledet breached those standards.
2. The jury clearly erred in awarding plaintiffs future medical expenses without any medical evidence in the
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