 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Covington v. Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word6/28/2005
Appellants Elizabeth Roberts and Patricia Lazard Covington, independent administrator of the estate of Vincent Lazard, appeal a summary judgment dismissing their survival claims asserted on behalf of the estate. We will affirm the judgment.
Factual and Procedural Background
Vincent Lazard died intestate on December 27, 1999, while a patient at Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont. He did not leave a surviving wife but was survived by three children. On August 31, 2000, his daughter Patricia Lazard Covington was appointed independent administrator of his estate by the probate court of Jefferson County.
Lazard also was survived by siblings. One of his sisters, Elizabeth Roberts, filed suit on February 15, 2002, against appellees Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Christus Health Southeast Texas d/b/a Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital and Paul D. Wesolow, M.D. The suit asserted medical negligence claims based on Lazard's treatment at the hospital from December 7 through his death on December 27. Roberts filed her original petition "individually and on behalf of Vincent Lazard, deceased." The petition described the plaintiff simply as an individual residing in Beaumont, Jefferson County. The petition alleged facts concerning Lazard's presentation to the emergency room of St. Elizabeth Hospital with complaints of shortness of breath and coughing, his admission to the hospital and his course of treatment in a "cardiac monitored unit" and the hospital's ICU. It alleged Lazard became suicidal and was restrained, that despite his refusal to eat or drink no fluids were administered, that no lab work was performed for a period of nineteen days, that indications of an excessive potassium level were ignored, that renal failure resulted and that his death was caused by aspiration during tube feeding. The petition alleged the defendants' care of Lazard fell below the standard of care, that his death was caused by the defendants' negligence and gross negligence in several listed respects, and that Roberts, individually and on behalf of Lazard, suffered damages particularly described to include mental anguish, and medical and funeral expenses.
On May 2, 2002, Roberts filed a first amended petition alleging claims only "on behalf of the Estate of Vincent Lazard, Deceased." After receiving responses to discovery, in September 2002 appellees filed amended answers challenging Roberts' standing and her capacity to act on behalf of her brother's estate, and filed a traditional motion for summary judgment. Roberts then filed a second amended petition on October 15, 2002, adding Covington as a plaintiff and alleging her to be the administrator of Lazard's estate. The factual allegations were essentially unchanged from the original petition. Appellees followed with an amended motion for summary judgment, asserting as grounds that Roberts' survival cause of action should be dismissed because she had no standing or capacity to sue on behalf of the estate, and that Covington's survival action was barred by limitations. The summary judgment evidence included the order granting Covington letters of independent administration of her father's estate and Roberts' interrogatory responses identifying Lazard's surviving family members. The trial court sent counsel a letter in which the court stated its conclusion that Roberts' suit "would be considered a nullity" because she had no capacity to bring the cause of action she asserted. The court later signed a final judgment dismissing Roberts' and Covington's claims with prejudice, not stating in the judgment the grounds for the dismissal. Both have appealed from that judgment.
Roberts and Covington present two issues on
Page 1 2 3 4 5 Texas Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|