ALTA ANESTHESIA ASSOCIATES OF GA. v. Gibbons, A00A0238.
| Decision Date | 13 July 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. A00A0238.,A00A0238. |
| Citation | 245 Ga. App. 79,537 S.E.2d 388 |
| Parties | ALTA ANESTHESIA ASSOCIATES OF GEORGIA, P.C. v. GIBBONS et al. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Bouhan, Williams & Levy, Roy E. Paul, Walter C. Hartridge, Savannah, Troutman Sanders, Robert W. Webb, Jr., James A. Lamberth, David B. Foshee, Atlanta, for appellant.
Chilivis, Cochran, Larkins & Bever, Anthony L. Cochran, John K. Larkins, Jr., Atlanta, John J. Ossick, Jr., Kingsland, for appellees. PHIPPS, Judge.
A jury trial was held on tort and breach of contract claims asserted by Jacquelyn Gibbons, M.D., and her corporation, Southeast Georgia Anesthesiologist, P.C., (collectively hereinafter "Gibbons") against Alta Anesthesia Associates of Georgia, a professional corporation. Alta appeals awards of compensatory and punitive damages entered against it. Alta contends the trial court erred in denying its motions for directed verdict, in giving certain jury instructions, in allowing the jury to award punitive damages, in failing to limit the amount of the punitive damages award, and in allowing an award of special damages on Gibbons's breach of contract claim. We do not find that the trial court erred in any of these respects. Therefore, we affirm.
Gibbons worked as an anesthesiologist at Southeast Georgia Regional Medical Center, operated by the Glynn-Brunswick Memorial Hospital Authority. In 1995, the Authority became concerned about lapses in anesthesiology coverage at the hospital and wanted to prepare for the advent of managed care. The Authority decided the anesthesiology needs of the hospital would be met best through an organized group of anesthesiologists. After the Authority notified the hospital's anesthesiology department of its decision, members of the anesthesiology staff formed Alta and procured a contract to provide anesthesia services to the hospital. Gibbons and two other anesthesiologists on staff opted not to become members of Alta. The contract, which purported to be one for exclusive services, allowed Gibbons and the two other independent anesthesiologists to continue their practices at the hospital even though they were not members of Alta. However, new anesthesiologists would have to be accepted into Alta before they could practice at the hospital.
Shortly before the contract was scheduled to go into effect, Gibbons filed a complaint and a motion for temporary, interlocutory, and permanent injunctions against the implementation of the contract. Her complaint alleged that the Authority and Alta had conspired to restrain trade and interfere with her exercise of medical staff privileges in violation of OCGA § 13-8-2(a)(2) and had violated the medical staff bylaws by hindering her ability to practice based upon her nonmembership in Alta. Gibbons later added a motion for declaratory judgment asserting that the contract was illegal and void as a general restraint of trade.
Gibbons also asserted that after implementation of the exclusive contract, Alta manipulated scheduling in the anesthesia department so that Alta anesthesiologists were assigned increased percentages of more lucrative surgeries and the operations where no anesthesiologist had been pre-selected and that Alta intimidated surgeons and other staff persons to switch preferences from independent anesthesiologists to Alta.
The Authority and Alta filed motions for summary judgment arguing that Gibbons lacks standing to challenge the contract, that the Authority and Alta were immune from any antitrust liability, and that the Authority has the discretion to enter into an exclusive services contract.
The court reserved ruling on the standing issue and otherwise denied the motions for summary judgment. The court decided to conduct a bifurcated trial. In the first phase, an advisory jury would determine whether Gibbons had suffered any reduction of income as a result of the contract and whether the costs to patients for anesthesia services had increased as a result of the contract. In the second, nonjury phase, each side would be allowed to present legal arguments and expert testimony on whether the contract had anticompetitive effects.
During the jury phase of the trial, the parties reached an agreement designed to end the litigation. Under the agreement, the contract would be amended as follows: (1) Gibbons would receive a proportional share of the cases where no preference for a particular anesthesiologist was expressed; (2) subject to reasonable economic terms, Alta would be required to accept new anesthesiologists into its membership and practice at the hospital if the Authority deemed a need for more anesthesiologists; and (3) Alta would not be able to terminate an anesthesiologist without cause. Alta and Gibbons also agreed to negotiate on terms under which Gibbons would join Alta. The negotiations were unsuccessful, and Gibbons did not join Alta.
Subsequently, a hearing was held on August 21, 1998, to dispose of unresolved matters such as attorney fees. After both sides presented evidence, the court expressed concern that Alta had continued to exclude Gibbons from the anesthesiology schedule even after the amendments to the contract. The court tentatively decided attorney fees and expenses were appropriate against Alta from the settlement date forward but that attorney fees and expenses were not appropriate against the Authority. The court also ruled sua sponte that it would give Gibbons 30 days to amend her complaint to seek money damages against Alta.
Gibbons did amend her claim to seek damages against Alta. And on December 29, 1998, the court entered an order declaring that "the ... Authority cannot enter into contracts with groups of physicians which allow the physicians to prevent potential competitors from practicing medicine in Defendant's facility unless they agree to enter into business relationships with those physicians" and that the original contract between the Authority and Alta was "patently anti-competitive." The court further ruled that Gibbons would be allowed to present damages claims to a jury. It dismissed the Authority from the future litigation.
Each party filed an appeal. The Authority and Alta challenged the declaratory judgment. Alta also challenged an August 21, 1998 ruling allowing Gibbons to amend her complaint to seek damages against Alta. Gibbons challenged the December 29, 1998 order on the basis that it reaffirmed an August 21, 1998 tentative ruling by the court that Gibbons could not receive attorney fees and expenses against the Authority.
In Case Nos. A99A1868 and A99A1869, we reversed the entry of declaratory judgment on the basis of procedural error and upheld the court's judgment allowing Gibbons to amend her complaint to seek damages against Alta.1 In Case No. A99A1870, we affirmed the court's denial of attorney fees and expenses that Gibbons sought against the Authority.2
While the appeals from the August 21 and the December 29 rulings of the trial court were pending in this court, the trial court conducted a jury trial on two damages claims asserted by Gibbons against Alta. The first claim related to alleged tortious conduct by Alta before the parties settled on a case assignment system. Gibbons asserted that Alta conspired to restrain trade by preventing her from practicing anesthesiology in Glynn County. The second claim was a breach of contract claim wherein Gibbons asserted that Alta had breached its obligations under the stipulated case assignment system.
The jury returned verdicts for Gibbons on both claims. It awarded her $106,250 on the tort claim, $56,000 on the breach of contract claim, and $875,000 in punitive damages.
1. First, Alta asserts that the trial court erred in denying its motions for directed verdict because the civil conspiracy cause of action failed to state a claim against Alta upon which relief could be granted under Georgia law. Alta moved for directed verdict both at the close of Gibbons's case and at the close of the evidence. The record shows that Alta did not assert in either instance that Gibbons's civil conspiracy cause did not present a claim upon which relief could be granted.
3 Accordingly, we will not consider Alta's assertion that it was entitled to a directed verdict because Gibbons's civil conspiracy action failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
2. Next, Alta asserts that the trial court erred in failing to direct a verdict in its favor because Georgia law does not recognize a tort for restraint of trade. The focus of this court's review is upon substance and not merely nomenclature.4 When the trial court's judgment is correct for any reason, we will affirm.5 In its final charge to the jury, the trial judge instructed as follows regarding Gibbons's tort claim.
I will first charge you concerning the claim of the plaintiff's based upon an alleged conspiracy. A conspiracy is an agreement to do an unlawful thing. Georgia law protects the rights of all citizens (a term which includes individuals as well as corporations) to compete for business and to maximize their incomes, and there is nothing improper about conduct undertaken for that purpose. However, Georgia law prohibits individuals and corporations from taking actions with the intent of depriving competitors of an opportunity to pursue their trade or profession. A conspiracy to deny a person or a corporation the right to pursue a business or profession cannot be established solely by evidence of a reduction in income due to the operation of a competitor or solely by evidence that the owners of a professional corporation referred cases they could not handle themselves to other owners of that corporation. To recover damages for a conspiracy, the plaintiffs must prove by a...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
TMX Fin., LLC v. Goldsmith
...and employees of said corporation," and had unrestricted authority over use of the truck). See also Alta Anesthesia Assoc. of Ga. v. Gibbons , 245 Ga. App. 79, 86 (3), 537 S.E.2d 388 (2000) ("[E]very ... business entity is responsible for torts committed by its servants by its command or in......
-
Turnage v. Kasper.
...v. Overstreet, 221 Ga. 16, 20(1)(a), 142 S.E.2d 816 (1965) (citations and punctuation omitted); Alta Anesthesia Assocs. of Ga. v. Gibbons, 245 Ga.App. 79, 85(3), 537 S.E.2d 388 (2000) (“A conspiracy ... is a combination between two or more persons either to do some act which is a tort, or e......
-
Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, Inc. v. Ichthus Cmty. Trust
...for which proof of a civil conspiracy will expand liability among all co-conspirators. See id.; Alta Anesthesia Associates of Georgia, P.C. v. Gibbons, 245 Ga.App. 79(3), 537 S.E.2d 388 (2000). The essential element of a civil conspiracy is a common design. Outside Carpets, Inc. v. Industri......
-
National Ass'n for Adv. Of Col. Peop. v. Acusport
...Vista Centre Venture v. Unlike Anything, Inc., 603 So.2d 576, 578-79 (Fla.Dist.Ct. App.1992); Alta Anesthesia Associates of Georgia, P.C. v. Gibbons, 245 Ga.App. 79, 537 S.E.2d 388, 391 (2000); Haw.Rev.Stat. § 635-12(b) (2001); Idaho R. Civ. P. 39(c) (2002); In re S.G., 175 Ill.2d 471, 222 ......
-
Trial Practice and Procedure - Bruce P. Brown, Jonathan R. Friedman, Michael R. Boorman, and Benjamin J. Vinson
...727, 624 S.E.2d 139, 142 (2005) (finding no error under O.C.G.A. Sec. 5-5-24(c)). 137. Alta Anesthesia Assocs. of Ga., P.C. v. Gibbons, 245 Ga. App. 79, 85, 537 S.E.2d 388, 394 (2000) (quoting Lavender v. State, 234 Ga. 608, 609, 216 S.E.2d 855, 857 (1975)). 138. Pearson, 277 Ga. App. at 72......