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Kelly v. Baltimore County1/31/2005
ourt facts which, on the one hand, show that he is entitled as a matter of law to the ruling he seeks, or, on the other hand, show that a fact, material to the opponent's position, is disputed.
Id. at 26. The Vanhook Court then described the ways that Md. Rule 2-501 permits the facts to be placed before the court: by affidavit, deposition, answers to interrogatories, admission of facts, stipulation or concession, or pleadings. Id. at 26-27.
In the instant case, the County failed to support its motion for summary judgment with any facts that would have been admissible into evidence establishing a lack of causation between Kelly's October 2002 accident and his subsequent surgery. Specifically, there was no admissible medical testimony or sworn affidavit establishing such lack of causation.
Because the County submitted no other testimony or affidavit at the hearing on the motion for summary judgment, it did not present undisputed evidence that permitted the court to rule as a matter of law that the Commission's conclusion was untenable and that Kelly's surgery was not causally connected to his October 2002 accident. The County, as the party attacking the decision, had the burden of supporting the motion with admissible evidence conclusively establishing that there was no genuine dispute of a material fact as to causation. Cf. S.B. Thomas, 114 Md. App. at 384 (" e hold that expert medical testimony was as surely required for the appellants to prove non-causation as it would have been required for the appellee to prove causation, had the decision of the Workers' Compensation Commission gone in the opposite direction.").
Further, the circuit court erred by effectively shifting to Kelly the burden of producing evidence of causation. Because the successful claimant enjoyed the presumption of the correctness of the Commission's finding of causation, it was error for the circuit court to hold that the claimant had to do anything to defeat the employer's motion for summary judgment.
In challenging the presumption of the Commission's decision, the County's burden "was not the lesser task of merely casting doubt on the claimant's proof of causation.... Their [burden] was, rather, the greater task of generating affirmatively a genuine jury issue of non-causation." Id. at 367-68. The County failed to overcome the presumption that the Commission's decision was correct and failed to meet its burden of demonstrating that it was entitled to judgment in its favor as a matter of law.
Kelly's Evidence
The County also argued that it should be granted judgment as a matter of law because Kelly "failed to present any evidence to [affirmatively] show that his need for back surgery was causally connected" to the October 2002 accident. As stated previously, however, Kelly was not required to produce medical testimony at this stage of the circuit court proceedings. Kelly bore no burden of production, and could simply rely on the presumption of correctness of the Commission's decision. The presumption of correctness of the Commission's decision is a fact that would be submitted into evidence for the jury's consideration, and is enough, by itself, to create a genuine dispute of a factual inference pertaining to causation for summary judgment purposes.
As we have noted above, however, in addition to relying upon the presumption of correctness of the Commission's decision, Kelly did submit medical reports prepared by Dr. Dey, which acknowledged that Kelly was involved in a motor vehicle accident in October 2002 and corroborated Kelly's testimony that he had been pain free before the accident but experienced an immediate resurgence of pain becaus
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