Salvagno v. Frew6/10/2005
e claim. That, in turn, was based on its conclusion that, in a lack of informed consent case, while it may not be prudent to do so, the plaintiff may rely on the defendant's admissions "to prove those aspects of the claims that required expert testimony." Salvagno v. Frew, supra, 158 Md. App. at 331, 857 A.2d at 515. The court noted, however, that, because as a result of the dismissal, the arbitration never proceeded, there was no actual "award" to be nullified. In that regard, it equated an "award" with a resolution of the claim on its merits. On that premise, and relying on Manzano v. Southern Md. Hospital, 347 Md. 17, 698 A.2d 531 (1997), the court concluded that the case should be remanded to HCAO to proceed to arbitration.
We granted the defendants' petition for certiorari to consider whether, in a medical malpractice case based solely on the alleged lack of informed consent, the plaintiff (1) is required to produce expert testimony in order to establish a prima facie case, and (2) if so, whether the plaintiff may rely on the testimony of the defendant physician to meet that requirement. Unfortunately, we shall be unable to decide that issue, as the case is not properly before us and was not properly before the Court of Special Appeals.
DISCUSSION
The Court of Special Appeals, directly or implicitly, made two procedural determinations that require review. First, in line with its holding in Watts v. King, supra, 143 Md. App. 293, 794 A.2d 723, it at least tacitly accepted the defendants' argument that an immediate appeal lies from an interlocutory order or other ruling that allegedly is beyond the jurisdiction of the lower court and that a decision by a Circuit Court to entertain a medical malpractice action that is subject to the arbitration regime established by CJP, title 3, subtitle 2A is jurisdictionally deficient. Second, it concluded that " he dismissal of a case prior to the liability determination is, in effect, a non-decision, because there is no award to vacate pursuant to ยง 3-2A-06(c)." Salvagno v. Frew, 158 Md. at 334, 857 A.2d at 517. That conclusion followed what the court had said in Alfred Munzer, M.D., P.A. v. Ramsey, 63 Md. App. 350, 492 A.2d 946 (1985). It was on that basis that the court insisted that the case be remanded to HCAO rather than remain for adjudication in the Circuit Court. We disagree with both of those conclusions.
Appealability
We dealt most recently with the appealability issue in Maryland State Board of Education v. Bradford, Md., A.2d (2005). We noted there that, although there is, indeed, a line of cases, commencing with Gottschalk v. Mercantile Trust Co., 102 Md. 521, 62 A. 810 (1906) and extending through Waters v. Smith, 277 Md. 189, 352 A.2d 793 (1976), in which this Court has indicated that an immediate appeal will lie from an interlocutory order that exceeds the jurisdiction of the lower court, we have in more recent times discarded that view. Rather, we have made clear that the right to seek appellate review of a trial court's ruling ordinarily must await the entry of a final judgment that disposes of all claims against all parties, and that there are only three exceptions to that final judgment requirement: appeals from interlocutory orders specifically allowed by statute; immediate appeals permitted under Maryland Rule 2-602; and appeals from interlocutory rulings allowed under the common law collateral order doctrine. We noted in Bradford that in Gruber v. Gruber, 369 Md. 540, 547, 801 A.2d 1013, 1017 (2002), we held flatly that "a trial court's order denying a challenge to its jurisdiction is a non-appealable interlocutory order."
We further observed in Bradford that a contrary approac
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