Huggins v. Graves

• Decision Date: 28 October 1964
• Docket Number: No. 15303.,15303.
• Citation: 337 F.2d 486
• Parties: Harrell F. HUGGINS, Plaintiff, v. Dr. Joseph W. GRAVES and Nazareth Literary and Benevolent Institute, Defendants and Third-Party Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Dr. Chester G. ADAMS, et al., dba, Anesthesiologists Associated, Third-Party Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

337 F.2d 486 (1964)

Harrell F. HUGGINS, Plaintiff, v. Dr. Joseph W. GRAVES and Nazareth Literary and Benevolent Institute, Defendants and Third-Party Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Dr. Chester G. ADAMS, et al., dba, Anesthesiologists Associated, Third-Party Defendants-Appellants.

No. 15303.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

October 28, 1964.

Sizer Chambliss, Chattanooga, Tenn., F. Thornton Strang, Chattanooga, Tenn., on brief; Strang, Fletcher, Carriger & Walker, Chattanooga, Tenn., of counsel, for third-party defendants-appellants.

William W. Haynes and Alvin O. Moore, Chattanooga, Tenn., Spears Moore, Rebman & Williams, Chattanooga, Tenn., on brief; Hall, Haynes, Lusk & Foster, Chattanooga, Tenn., of counsel, for defendants and third-party plaintiffs-appellees.

Before MILLER and CECIL, Circuit Judges, and McALLISTER, Senior Circuit Judge.

SHACKELFORD MILLER, Jr., Circuit Judge.

This case arose from the confusing of two patients in a hospital and the consequent performing on each patient of the operation intended for the other.

In the removal of the two patients from their hospital rooms to the operating rooms, the hospital charts of the patients were mixed and each patient was then placed in the operating room scheduled for the other. The result was that the plaintiff who had been scheduled for a hemorrhoidectomy at the hands of one doctor received instead an orchidectomy and hernia operation at the hands of another doctor. At the same time, the patient for the orchidectomy and hernia operation had removed instead a hemorrhoidectomy. Those errors were not discovered until some time later when one of the patients was returned to the other patient's room following the operation.

This action was brought in the District Court by Harrell F. Huggins, one of the patients, against Dr. Joseph W. Graves who performed the operation upon the plaintiff and against the Nazareth Literary and Benevolent Institute, the corporation which owns and operates the hospital in which the operation was performed. Plaintiff's claim was based upon negligence.

Thereupon, the doctor and the hospital, filed a third party proceeding against a number of doctors doing business as partners under the style of Anesthesiologists Associated, hereinafter referred to as Anesthesiologists, one of whom administered the anesthesia to the plaintiff without having identified him and thereby preventing his identification by others. The third party proceeding sought indemnity from the Anesthesiologists or, in the alternative, contribution from the anesthesiologists as joint tort feasors with the doctor and the hospital.

The case was heard by a jury upon special issues. The jury returned a verdict in the amount of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) in favor of the plaintiff against the doctor and the hospital and awarded contribution to the doctor and the hospital against the anesthesiologists. The jury found against the claim of the doctor and the hospital for indemnity.

The Anesthesiologists moved for a directed verdict or for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict upon the grounds (1) that contribution between joint tort feasors is not permitted by the law of Tennessee, (2) that if contribution is permitted it must be brought in a separate suit after judgment has been rendered against and paid by the party seeking contribution, and (3) that the evidence was insufficient to support a finding that the Anesthesiologists were tort feasors from whom contribution might be required. The amount of contribution, if it should be awarded by the jury, was stipulated by the parties before submission of the case to the jury and is not an issue.

In a thorough and well-reasoned opinion, the District Judge discussed these issues and the Tennessee authorities applicable thereto and overruled the motions. Huggins v. Graves, 210 F.Supp. 98, E.D.Tenn.

With respect to the second contention of the Anesthesiologists the judgment awarding contribution was so worded as to require payment by the defendants of the One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) judgment in favor of the plaintiff before they would be entitled to the contribution awarded. This judgment was thereafter paid by the defendants. The present appeal is by the Anesthesiologists from so much of the judgment that awarded contribution by them to the doctor and the hospital.

We are of the opinion that the rulings of the District Judge, with respect to the issues presented to him, are correct for the reasons stated by him in his opinion. It is accordingly, unnecessary, to discuss those issues here and this opinion will be directed to the following additional question presented by appellants' brief.

On this appeal, the third party defendants do not urge upon us the insufficiency of the evidence to support a finding that the Anesthesiologists were tort feasors from whom contribution might be required. Instead, it is now contended that the District Judge could not enter a valid judgment of contribution against the third party defendants when no judgment had been rendered holding the anesthesiologists liable to the original plaintiff. They contend that such a judgment in favor of the plaintiff is essential in order for contribution to exist, Vaughn v. Gill, 264 S.W.2d 805, Tenn., (no official report) and since there was no diversity of citizenship between the plaintiff and the third party defendants, there was no jurisdiction in the District Court under which such a judgment in favor of the original plaintiff could be rendered. This point was apparently not pressed upon the District Judge in his consideration of the sufficiency of the evidence to support the judgment enforcing contribution, and might properly be considered as not being before us on the appeal. Helvering v. Wood, 309 U.S. 344, 348-349, 60 S.Ct. 551, 84 L.Ed. 796; Doll v. Glenn, 231 F.2d 186, 190,...