Dennie v. Metropolitan Medical Center, s. C0-84-2016
| Decision Date | 16 May 1986 |
| Docket Number | C4-85-117,Nos. C0-84-2016,s. C0-84-2016 |
| Citation | 387 N.W.2d 401 |
| Parties | Francis L. DENNIE, Appellant, v. METROPOLITAN MEDICAL CENTER, Petitioner, Respondent. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
Trial court abused its discretion in suppressing plaintiff's expert testimony requiring dismissal of action where there was no indication that plaintiff's counsel intentionally obstructed the discovery process and no prejudice came to defendant's case.
Barbara Rudquist, Minneapolis, for appellant.
James F. Roegge, Robert E. Salmon, Minneapolis, for respondent.
Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.
The issue in this case is whether the trial court abused its discretion in suppressing the testimony of plaintiff's experts in this medical malpractice action. The trial court's action eliminated all of plaintiff's expert testimony necessitating a judgment of dismissal against plaintiff. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that given the facts of this case, the penalties borne by plaintiff evidenced an abuse of the trial court's discretion. We granted defendant's petition for further review and affirm the Court of Appeals decision.
The material facts are not in dispute. On December 4, 1978, plaintiff Francis Dennie was admitted to Metropolitan Medical Center for numbness in his right hand. Dr. Harold Noran performed an electromyogram on plaintiff and diagnosed carpal tunnel syndrome. Dr. Noran also diagnosed chronic ideopathic polyneuritis in plaintiff's right arm and both of his legs. This means that he had inflammation of certain peripheral nerves, the cause of which was unknown. Dr. Noran also found the condition to be worse in plaintiff's left leg than in his right. No treatment was prescribed for this condition.
Surgery was performed on the morning of December 7 to correct the carpal tunnel syndrome. At 1 p.m. that afternoon, plaintiff summoned a nurse to give him something for his pain. A registered nurse gave him a shot of Demerol in the left buttock. Approximately 3 1/2 hours later, plaintiff began experiencing extreme pain in his entire leg. Although he was to have been released the following day, plaintiff remained hospitalized for 14 days for treatment of his left leg. Plaintiff was bedridden for 3 months following his release from the hospital and experienced pain in his left leg up to the date of trial.
On November 24, 1980, plaintiff commenced this malpractice action against Metropolitan Medical Center, alleging that the nurse who administered the Demerol hypo did so negligently, causing permanent damage to the sciatic nerve in plaintiff's left leg. Defendant denied liability and presumably would argue at trial that plaintiff's condition was caused by either unavoidable accident or his preexisting polyneuritis. The issue before this court, however, arises from the manner in which plaintiff's pretrial discovery was conducted.
On January 9, 1981, shortly after plaintiff commenced this suit, defendant served on plaintiff interrogatories and requests for production of documents. Receiving no reply, defendant moved a Hennepin County District Court judge on October 19, 1981, to compel discovery. Plaintiff made no appearance at the hearing and the court ordered that answers be made within 15 days. Plaintiff responded that Dr. Noran would appear as his expert and would testify In early 1983, plaintiff's attorney left the firm representing plaintiff and his present lawyer took over the file. She twice contacted defense counsel requesting a stipulation to reopen discovery because of difficulty locating an expert witness, but her requests were refused. Her motion for an order reopening discovery at a February 14, 1984, pretrial settlement conference before a district court referee was denied for lack of proper written notice. As witnesses on her statement of the case, filed February 8, 1984, she listed Dr. Noran, Steven Laven, R.N., and a "neurologist yet to be named."
that the Demerol injection was given negligently, the injection caused plaintiff's sciatic aggravation, and the injury was avoidable. On April 20, 1982, however, defendant deposed Dr. Noran who testified that he did not believe the injection was given negligently. Defendant then filed a certificate of readiness on August 6, 1982, pursuant to Special Rule 4.01 of the Fourth Judicial District. Plaintiff did not file a certificate of nonreadiness, thus permitting further discovery only upon order of the court under Fourth Judicial District Special Rule 2.01.
On May 3, 1984, the Clerk of Court for Hennepin County noticed the trial for the week of June 18, 1984. Shortly thereafter, plaintiff's counsel contacted Dr. John Tulloch, a neurologist, who eventually agreed to testify as plaintiff's expert some time at the beginning of June. On June 11, she submitted supplemental answers to defendant's expert interrogatories and named Dr. Tulloch and Laven as her expert witnesses. Her answer to Interrogatory Number 2 reads:
2. As to each such witness, state the following in complete detail:
a. Any specific acts or omissions by the defendant that are claimed to have been a departure from the applicable standard.
b. What the defendant either should or should not have done under the circumstances.
c. Specifically how such act or omission caused or contributed to plaintiff's damage.
d. What specifically would have been the alternative treatment, if any.
e. How such alternative treatment would have affected the outcome.
a. The injection was given negligently by one of the agents or employees of defendant.
b. The defendant should have given the injection in the proper manner.
The case was called for trial on June 19, 1984, at which time defense counsel moved to suppress the testimony of both Dr. Tulloch and Laven. The grounds for the motion were that the disclosure of the experts' identity was untimely and the substance of their opinions inadequate to allow proper cross-examination, thereby prejudicing defendant. Plaintiff's counsel contested the motion, citing her hardship in locating a neurologist willing to testify and the fact that she simply was unsure of the substance of Dr. Tulloch's testimony. The trial judge denied defendant's motion, continued the trial until the following morning, and ordered that the depositions of Dr. Tulloch and Laven be taken that afternoon.
Disputes arose between counsel over work product at both depositions. At the Laven deposition, it was revealed that the witness had become employed by plaintiff's law firm 3 weeks earlier. When defense counsel asked Laven what documents he had reviewed in connection with the case, plaintiff's counsel objected to the questioning as calling for work product. She specified, however, that she did not object to the question as it related to medical records, rather to any written communication between them either as paralegal-attorney or as expert-attorney. When defense counsel asked to see the medical records that Laven reviewed, plaintiff's counsel again interposed a work product objection. She explained that she had markings on the records constituting work product and she had previously produced the entire record for defendant. She also refused to produce a report of Laven's findings submitted to her, again raising a work product objection.
A similar encounter occurred at Dr. Tulloch's deposition. When asked to produce an opinion letter prepared by Dr. Tulloch for plaintiff's counsel, she refused on the basis of work product. She explained at the deposition that "it's my position that this is not an expert witness report but this is work product from the communication between an expert and an attorney in preparation for trial."
The following morning, defense counsel renewed his motion to suppress the testimony of plaintiff's experts. The court granted the motion. With respect to Laven, the court ruled that plaintiff's counsel had the obligation to insulate him from any work product and once he was exposed to it, she had the obligation to turn it over to opposing counsel. Plaintiff's counsel then offered to have the court conduct an in camera review of the materials, but the court refused her request. Regarding Dr. Tulloch's report, the court ruled that she had the obligation to turn over the report under Minn.R.Civ.P. 35. It found further support for suppression in that Dr. Tulloch's letter differed from the opinion he was prepared to give at trial. Plaintiff's counsel then made an offer of proof requesting that she be allowed to present her case on a res ipsa loquitur theory which the trial court rejected as inadequate. Accordingly, since plaintiff had no expert testimony to present on the issue of negligence, the court dismissed his cause of action with prejudice for failure to present a prima facie case.
The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court, holding that "the penalties ultimately borne by Dennie--the cost of depositions, the exclusion of expert testimony, and the dismissal of his case with prejudice--evidence an abuse of the trial court's discretion." Dennie v. Metropolitan Medical Center, 369 N.W.2d 552, 557 (Minn.App.1985). The appeals panel reasoned:
[T]he trial court would have served Dennie's interest in seeing his cause of action concluded by [a] trial on the merits, and Metropolitan's interest in remaining free from prejudice, by an in camera inspection of all disputed documents, a ruling on all disputed questions, and a continuance, if necessary, to allow Metropolitan to prepare to fully meet Laven's and Tulloch's testimony.
Id. We agree with the Court of Appeals analysis.
The general rule in Minnesota is that a trial court's dismissal of an action for procedural irregularities will be reversed on appeal only if it is shown that the trial court abused its discretion. See Boland v. Garber, 257 N.W.2d 384, 387 (Minn.1977). Specifically, this is the standard applied to sanctions for a...
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