Florida Dept. of Corrections v. Abril

• Decision Date: 18 October 2007
• Docket Number: No. SC04-1747.,SC04-1747.
• Citation: 969 So.2d 201
• Parties: FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Petitioner, v. Lisa M. ABRIL, et vir., Respondents.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

969 So.2d 201

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Petitioner, v. Lisa M. ABRIL, et vir., Respondents.

No. SC04-1747.

Supreme Court of Florida.

October 18, 2007.

Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida and David J. Glantz, Assistant Attorney General, Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Petitioner.

Dick W. Mounts, Minerva, OH, for Respondent.

Robert S. Glazier, Miami, FL, on behalf of Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, as Amicus Curiae.

PER CURIAM.

This case is before the Court pursuant to a certified question of great public importance from the Second District Court of Appeal. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. The appellee, Lisa M. Abril, sought damages based upon negligence in the unauthorized disclosure of the results of her HIV testing. Abril v. Dep't of Corr., 884 So.2d 206, 207-08 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004). The district court reversed the trial court's dismissal of the case for failure to state a cause of action. Id. at 213. In reinstating the case, the Second District certified the following question to this Court as one of great public importance:

IS FLORIDA'S IMPACT RULE APPLICABLE IN A CASE IN WHICH IT IS ALLEGED THAT THE INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL INJURIES HAS RESULTED FROM A CLINICAL LABORATORY'S BREACH OF A DUTY OF CONFIDENTIALITY UNDER SECTION 381.004(3)(f), FLORIDA STATUTES (SUPP.1996), WITH RESPECT TO HIV TEST INFORMATION?

Id. While not approving all of the reasoning, we approve the district court's ultimate decision, answer the certified question in the negative, and hold that an entity that negligently and unlawfully violates a patient's right of confidentiality and privacy in disclosing the results of HIV testing of the patient may be held responsible in a civil negligence action for damages caused to the patient by the unlawful disclosure.

Proceedings to Date

The prior proceedings were summarized by the district court in the opinion below:

The amended complaint alleged that Mrs. Abril, in the course of her employment with the department as a senior licensed practical nurse at the Hendry County Correctional Institution [(HCCI)], had given unprotected mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to an inmate. After it was determined that the inmate was infected with hepatitis C and that it was unknown whether the inmate was infected with HIV, Mrs. Abril unsuccessfully sought testing for hepatitis and HIV through the department's workers' compensation carrier, which declined to authorize the testing because it determined that the resuscitation did not expose her to a risk of infection. Subsequently, the institution's chief medical officer submitted a blood sample from Mrs. Abril to Continental Laboratory, a laboratory under contract with the State of Florida to provide clinical laboratory services for inmates for HIV testing.

The complaint further alleged that a document indicating that the test results for HIV were positive was faxed to an unsecured fax machine in the institution's business office and to another fax machine in Tallahassee at the [Department of Corrections'] offices of Chief Health Services, despite Continental Laboratory's assurances set forth in a prior fax to a "confidentially-secured" fax machine in the institution's medical office that the results of the test were confidential and would be hand delivered. It was alleged that the faxes with the test results were sent in response to a request for the information from a department employee who was concerned that the use of Continental Laboratory for the testing of Mrs. Abril's blood might not have been authorized. The complaint also alleged that a number of persons employed by the department, who were not authorized by law to know of the test results, became aware of the test results through Continental Laboratory's transmission of the results to the fax machines. It was ultimately determined through testing, paid for by the workers' compensation carrier, that Continental Laboratory's HIV test on Mrs. Abril's blood had produced a false positive and that Mrs. Abril had not in fact contracted HIV.

Id. at 207. The Abrils subsequently filed a civil action, seeking damages, in part, for the mental anguish and emotional distress suffered by Ms. Abril arising from Continental's negligent failure to ensure the confidentiality and privacy of the HIV test results¹ and the subsequent negligence of Continental and the Department of Corrections in causing the test results to be improperly disseminated to others. Id. at 207-08.²

Upon appeal of a trial court order dismissing the Abrils' action, the Second District, in a unanimous decision explained in an opinion by Judge Canady, reversed the trial court, analogizing the case to that of Gracey v. Eaker, 837 So.2d 348 (Fla.2002), in which this Court recently concluded that a civil action for damages arose from the breach by a psychotherapist of a statutory duty of confidentiality and privacy. Abril, 884 So.2d at 211-13. As in Gracey, the district court found that a statute, in this case section 381.004(3)(f), Florida Statutes (Supp.1996), supported the recognition of a cause of action for negligence based upon the alleged breach of a duty of confidentiality on the part of the health care providers who conducted Ms. Abril's HIV test. Id. at 212. Further, as in Gracey, the Second District concluded that the impact rule should not apply to bar such a claim even where no actual physical contact or injury was alleged. Id. at 212-13. We approve the district court's decision reinstating the negligence cause of action.

Analysis

This Court and other appellate courts review decisions resolving motions to dismiss under a de novo standard where those motions are based on a claim that no legal cause of action exists as alleged in the complaint. Siegle v. Progressive Consumers Ins. Co., 819 So.2d 732, 734 (Fla. 2002). Here, the amended complaint alleges an action based on the negligence of Continental Laboratories, charging the department with vicarious liability for this negligence under the agency provisions of section 768.28(10)(a), pursuant to which the State has waived immunity for the actions of health care services provided by private persons at the request of the department. See Abril, 884 So.2d at 207-08.

In their amended complaint, the Abrils alleged that Continental was negligent and that it "breached its professional duty [to Ms. Abril] by failing to provide that level of care, skill and treatment which, in light of all relevant surrounding circumstances is recognized as acceptable and appropriate by reasonably prudent similar health care providers." Because of this breach, the Abrils allege they suffered mental anguish and emotional distress. Id. In arguing for reconsideration after the trial court granted the department's motion to dismiss, the Abrils argued that their action was one for medical malpractice because of Continental's negligence resulting in breach of its duty to maintain the confidentiality of the test results. Thus, the Abrils essentially asserted a common law negligence claim against Continental utilizing the breach of the provisions of section 381.004(3)(f) as evidence of Continental's negligence.

DUTY

To maintain an action for negligence, a plaintiff must establish that the defendant owed a duty, that the defendant breached that duty, and that this breach caused the plaintiff damages. See Clampitt v. D.J. Spencer Sales, 786 So.2d 570, 573 (Fla.2001). This Court has held that while breach, causation, and damages are ordinarily questions for the jury, "duty exists as a matter of law and is not a factual question for the jury to decide." McCain v. Fla. Power Corp., 593 So.2d 500, 503 (Fla.1992). It is the existence of a duty on the part of Continental that is at issue in this case.

Section 381.004(3)(f)

The district court relied primarily upon the provisions of section 381.004(3)(f) as the source of a duty of confidentiality owed by Continental to Ms. Abril. Section 381.004(3)(f) provides:

Except as provided in this section, the identity of any person upon whom a[n HIV] test has been performed and test results are confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1). No person who has obtained or has knowledge of a test result pursuant to this section may disclose or be compelled to disclose the identity of any person upon whom a test is performed, or the results of such a test in a manner which permits identification of the subject of the test. . . .

In rejecting the department's argument that no duty to Ms. Abril existed, the district court explained:

The complaint filed by the Abrils alleges facts that would be sufficient to establish that Continental Laboratory violated a duty imposed on it by section 381.004 to maintain the confidentiality of HIV test results and to disclose those results only as authorized by law. The issue presented for resolution thus is not whether the complaint's allegations are sufficient to establish the necessary elements of the existence of a duty and the breach of that duty. The dispositive question is whether the damages alleged — for mental anguish and emotional distress caused by Continental Laboratory's breach of its duty — are cognizable under Florida law. The answer to this question depends on whether the impact rule is applicable to the claims at issue.

Abril, 884 So.2d at 209-10. Although the district court did not elaborate in great detail on its analysis, we conclude that the court was correct in its conclusion that the Abrils had properly alleged a cause of action for negligence.

The courts of Florida have long recognized that the violation of a statute may be utilized as evidence of negligence. In Alford v. Meyer, 201 So.2d 489 (Fla. 1st DCA 1967), the court explained:

The rationale supporting the admission of a statute, ordinance, or administrative rule or regulation as prima facie evidence of negligence is that the standard of conduct or care embraced within such legislative or quasi-legislative...