Beck v. Holloway, 1D04-2623.

Decision Date27 April 2006
Docket NumberNo. 1D04-2623.,1D04-2623.
Citation933 So.2d 4
PartiesRichard Allen BECK, M.D., Appellant, v. Richard HOLLOWAY, and Kim HOLLOWAY, his wife, Appellees.
CourtFlorida District Court of Appeals

Ronald S. Wasilenko, Esquire and Samuel Scott Ross, Esquire of Gobelman, Love, Gavin, Blazs & Wasilenko, Jacksonville and Mark Hicks, Esquire and Dinah Stein, Esquire of Hicks & Kneale, P.A., Miami, for Appellant.

Gregory W. Lineberry, Esquire and Eric S. Block, Esquire of the Law Offices of Eric S. Block, P.A., Jacksonville and Michael J. Korn, Esquire of Korn & Zehmer, P.A., Jacksonville, for Appellees.

BENTON, J.

Richard Allen Beck, an otolaryngologist, appeals the final judgment entered in the medical malpractice case Richard and Kim Holloway brought against him. We affirm the judgment insofar as it rejects his statute of limitations defense, but reverse and remand for a new trial on damages.

Five days after Dr. Beck operated to remove polyps from Richard Holloway's sinuses, Mr. Holloway was diagnosed with meningitis attributed to streptococcus pneumoniae. Dr. Beck told Mr. Holloway and his wife that microorganisms must have reached his meninges (membranes surrounding the brain) through "natural cracks" in his skull, openings which must have subsequently healed shut because he could see no evidence of continued leakage.

Some two years later, once again afflicted with meningitis, he was admitted to a different hospital. This time he was attended by Napoleon G. Bequer, who ordered radiological studies. Dr. Bequer concluded that Mr. Holloway had contracted meningitis on account of defects in the left cribriform plate and the right fovea ethmoidalis, holes which created pathways in his skull through which sinus infections could spread into the brain cavity. His protestations at trial notwithstanding, the jury was entitled to conclude that Dr. Beck's negligence while operating was responsible for the intracranial connection, and the meningitis that ensued.

As a result of his initial bout with meningitis, Mr. Holloway left the hospital with disequilibrium, paralysis on the left side of his face, and hearing loss in his left ear. Fortunately, Mr. Holloway suffered no additional, permanent ill effects from the second episode of meningitis. Before discharging Mr. Holloway from the hospital, Dr. Bequer corrected the iatrogenic defects surgically.

I.

On July 6, 2001, Mr. Holloway and Kim Holloway, his wife, filed suit against Dr. Beck and Advanced Otolaryngology Services, P.A., on account of the surgery Dr. Beck had performed on June 18, 1997, and his handling of the case thereafter. Dr. Beck set up the statute of limitations as a defense, and moved for summary judgment on that basis. See § 95.11(4)(b), Fla. Stat. (1997) (requiring that an action for medical malpractice be brought "within 2 years from the time the incident is discovered, or should have been discovered with the exercise of due diligence").

The trial court denied the motion for summary judgment, and submitted the Holloways' claims to the jury, along with the question of their timeliness. See Tanner v. Hartog, 618 So.2d 177, 181 (Fla. 1993) ("We hold that the knowledge of the injury as referred to in the rule as triggering the statute of limitations means not only knowledge of the injury but also knowledge that there is a reasonable possibility that the injury was caused by medical malpractice.") (footnote omitted). The Holloways had gone to a lawyer soon after Dr. Beck operated, because they suspected nasal packing deliberately left in place (not sponges inadvertently misplaced, as they first thought) had caused the meningitis. That lawyer and a physician the lawyer consulted concluded (correctly) that leaving the packing in place had not been negligent, and did not in any event account for the meningitis, and the Holloways were so advised. Not until August of 1999, when Dr. Bequer told them about the holes Dr. Beck's surgical instruments had made, did the Holloways have a genuine basis to suspect negligence, an "awareness of the existence of medical malpractice," Stephens v. Bay Med. Ctr., 691 So.2d 1136, 1138 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997), founded in reasonable possibility, or so the jury had a right to decide.1

Dr. Beck never informed the Holloways that he made the holes in Mr. Holloway's skull. He told them that the holes were a "`natural' or non-negligent" occurrence, and so testified at trial. Tanner, 618 So.2d at 185 (Kogan, J., concurring) ("Where plaintiffs have little or no special expertise and were told that the untoward event was `natural' or non-negligent, then I can envision only a few extraordinary situations in which the statute will begin to run on the date of the event itself."); see id. at 182 (majority opinion) ("[I]f the injury is such that it is likely to have occurred from natural causes, the statute will not begin to run until such time as there is reason to believe that medical malpractice may possibly have occurred."); see also Stephens, 691 So.2d at 1138-39 ("[W]hen confronted with the question of the plaintiff's awareness of the existence of medical malpractice, trial courts should inquire into the facts actually known to plaintiffs and the plaintiffs' level of knowledge, education, and awareness of medical practice and what is likely to be considered a negligent act. In addition, courts must inquire into what the medical providers actually told the plaintiff about the event.").

Accordingly, a genuine issue of material fact existed as to when the Holloways first had reason to know that Dr. Beck had negligently punctured Mr. Holloway's skull, and the trial court properly denied Dr. Beck's motion for summary judgment on this ground, allowing the question of when "the incident . . . should have been discovered" to be determined by the jury. § 95.11(4)(b), Fla. Stat. (1997).

II.

The evidence of medical malpractice was more than sufficient. In addition, the jury found the malpractice caused damages in the amount of $2,500,983.00, and put Mr. Holloway's lost earnings (past and future) at $762,000.00. A truck driver, Mr. Holloway testified at trial that he was no longer able to drive a truck, citing fatigue, memory loss, partial hearing loss, and an inability to bend over without falling down, all problems he attributed to his meningitis. But the jury was deprived of important information: Videotape taken in November of 2003 showed him loading and driving his eighteen-wheeler, and included footage of him bending over (without falling), kneeling, and turning and twisting while strapping down loads. Even though the defense had furnished the plaintiffs a copy of the videotape before trial, the trial judge excluded this highly relevant evidence.

The Holloways had made no discovery requests for surveillance videotapes (or any other photographs) when, four weeks before trial, Dr. Beck moved for leave to take their depositions a second time. The motion revealed that the defense had surveillance videotape in its possession; and offered to furnish the plaintiffs a copy of what it intended to offer at trial, but requested that the defense not be compelled to produce the videotape before the depositions. The trial court granted the motion, allowing additional depositions and permitting defense counsel to wait until after the depositions to provide the Holloways a copy of the videotape.

Immediately after the depositions, defense counsel gave the Holloways a thirty-minute videotape of the surveillance footage Dr. Beck intended to use at trial. (The defense also listed "surveillance video" as an exhibit on the pretrial stipulation the parties filed.) Later that day the Holloways requested all surveillance footage, whether or not the plaintiffs intended to use the footage at trial. The following day defense counsel voluntarily furnished plaintiffs' counsel all the footage defense counsel had: four unedited videotapes, two of which depicted Mr. Holloway, and two of which contained only "administrative time shots."

Four days into trial, the Holloways moved to strike...

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