In re Spooner

• Decision Date: 30 November 2010
• Docket Number: Nos. 10–00953–CV,10–00956–CV.,s. 10–00953–CV
• Parties: In re Keith SPOONER, Cleveland Regional Medical Center, and Shirley Kiefer, Relators.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

333 S.W.3d 759

In re Keith SPOONER, Cleveland Regional Medical Center, and Shirley Kiefer, Relators.

Nos. 10–00953–CV

10–00956–CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Houston (1st Dist.).

Nov. 30, 2010.Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc

Overruled Jan. 19, 2011.

R. Brent Cooper, Cooper & Scully, P.C., Dallas, TX, Robert G. Smith, Lorance & Thompson, P.C., Houston, TX, for Appellant.Christopher Bradshaw–Hull, Law Offices of Christopher Bradshaw–Hull, Houston, TX, for Appellee.Panel consists of Justices KEYES, HIGLEY, and BLAND.

OPINION

LAURA CARTER HIGLEY, Justice.

Tangie Walters sued relators, Keith Spooner, M.D., Cleveland Regional Medical Center, and Shirley Kiefer for medical negligence. In these two original mandamus proceedings, relators challenge the trial court's October 13, 2010 order, which declares that relators have judicially admitted certain liability-determinative facts and prohibits relators from offering evidence at trial to controvert those facts.¹

We agree with the relators that the trial court clearly abused its discretion in rendering the order. We also agree that the relators do not have an adequate remedy at law. Accordingly, we conditionally grant the requested mandamus relief in each original mandamus proceeding.

Background

On December 1, 1995, Dr. Keith Spooner performed a tubal ligation surgery on Tangie Walters at Cleveland Regional Medical Center. Shirley Kiefer, a surgical technician, assisted Dr. Spooner in the procedure. In April 2005, another surgeon recovered a sponge from Walters's abdomen. Walters claimed that the sponge had been left in her abdomen during the 1995 tubal ligation. In August 2005, Walters sued Dr. Spooner, the hospital, and Kiefer. She alleged that since the tubal ligation surgery, she had been experiencing abdominal pain and a wide range of medical problems.

The three defendants answered by generally denying Walters's claims. In 2006, the defendants also moved for summary judgment against Walters. The hospital and Kiefer filed a joint motion, and Dr. Spooner filed his own motion for summary judgment. In both motions, the defendants asserted that the two-year statute of limitations barred Walters's claims.

Walters responded that the Open Courts Clause of the Texas Constitution prevents her medical liability claim from being barred by limitations. Walters offered evidence to show that she could not have reasonably discovered the sponge before the running of the limitations period.

Walters also filed a motion for partial summary judgment against the defendants. Walters alleged that the defendants had judicially admitted that “they left the sponge within [Walters] following a tubal ligation and that the sponge caused her harm.” Walters did not identify the source of the judicial admission in her motion. Walters also asserted that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur applies to establish the defendants' liability as a matter of law.

Dr. Spooner responded to Walters's motion by asserting that a fact issue existed regarding how the sponge was retained in Walters. The doctor pointed out that he did not perform the 1995 surgery alone. He asserted that Hospital personnel also participated in the surgery and could have left the sponge in Walters. Dr. Spooner further averred that other surgical procedures were performed on Walters and could be the source of the sponge.

In August 2006, the trial court granted the defendants' motions for summary judgment, which were based on the defendants' assertion that Walters's medical negligence claims were barred by the applicable two-year statute of limitations. After our court affirmed the trial court's order granting summary judgment against Walters, the Texas Supreme Court reversed the decision and held that Walters had raised an issue of material fact regarding whether she had discovered the sponge and filed suit within a reasonable time. Walters v. Cleveland Regional Med. Ctr., 307 S.W.3d 292, 298–99 (Tex.2010), rev'g Walters v. Cleveland Regional Med. Ctr., 264 S.W.3d 154 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2008). The supreme court remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings. See id. at 299.

Once back in the trial court, Dr. Spooner filed another motion for summary judgment in August 2010. Dr. Spooner claimed that the evidence showed that Walters's medical problems, which she claimed were caused by the retained sponge, were actually caused by another medical condition that predated the 1995 surgery. The hospital and Kiefer also have alleged that Walters's medical problems do not emanate from the 1995 tubal ligation surgery.

Also in August 2010, Walters filed a “Motion to Determine Judicial Admissions in Defendants' Pleadings and Exclude Evidence.” Walters asserted that, in their respective 2006 motions for summary judgment, the defendants had judicially admitted that they had left the sponge within Walters and that the sponge had caused her injury. Walters claimed that the following language contained in motion for summary judgment filed by the hospital and Kiefer constituted a judicial admission:

Since [Walters] began experiencing the pelvic abdominal pain immediately following the tubal ligation and continued to experience chronic pelvic abdominal pain over the course of nine to ten years prior to the removal of the sponge, plaintiff could have and should have known that her condition was related to the tubal ligation surgery in 1995.

Walters also cited a passage from Dr. Spooner's motion for summary judgment as constituting a judicial admission:

It is clear based on the medical records and Ms Walters' own testimony that she has had chronic pelvic pain, with recurring urinary complaints ever since the tubal ligation in 1995 and her persistent symptoms, and worsening condition (the chronic pain caused anxiety and depression) were clear signs that something was wrong with Ms. Walters, which should have and could have been identified as the retained sponge.

Walters claimed that the defendants made these statements in their respective motions for summary judgment “clearly, deliberately, unequivocally, and not in the alternative.” Walters requested the trial court to enter an order (1) “determining the statements contained in Defendants' May 12, 2006 Motions for Summary Judgment were admissions”; (2) “prohibiting the introduction of evidence controverting their admissions”; and (3) “preventing submission of any jury questions on the admitted facts.”

The defendants responded that, when read in their proper context, the cited statements were not judicial admissions. The defendants asserted that the statements, which are found in the “argument” section of the motions for summary judgment, were offered to advance the argument that Walters should have discovered what was causing her alleged injuries before the expiration of the two-year statute of limitations. The defendants also pointed out that, in other filings and during the discovery process, they had consistently denied that they were responsible for Walters's alleged injuries.

After conducting a hearing, the trial court granted Walters's motion. On October 13, 2010, the trial court signed an order providing,

Defendants have judicially admitted that the sponge was retained in the 1995 tubal surgery and that the retained sponge caused [Walters] chronic pelvic pain for nine years to ten years, that Defendants are prohibited from introducing any evidence controverting that the sponge was retained in the 1995 tubal ligation surgery and that the sponge caused [Walters's] chronic pelvic pain.

The hospital, Kiefer, and Dr. Spooner (“Relators” hereinafter) seek mandamus relief, requesting this Court to order the trial court to vacate its October 13, 2010 order.

Mandamus Principles

To be entitled to mandamus relief, a relator must meet two requirements. First, the relator must show that the trial court clearly abused its discretion. In re Prudential Ins. Co. of America, 148 S.W.3d 124, 135 (Tex.2004) (orig. proceeding). Second, the relator must demonstrate it has no adequate remedy by appeal. Id. at 136.

A trial court abuses its discretion if it reaches a decision so arbitrary and unreasonable as to constitute a clear and prejudicial error of law. In re Cerberus Capital Mgmt., L.P., 164 S.W.3d 379, 382 (Tex.2005) (orig. proceeding). When reviewing the trial court's decision for an abuse of discretion, we may not substitute our judgment for that of the trial court with respect to resolution of factual issues or matters committed to the trial court's discretion. See Walker v. Packer, 827 S.W.2d 833, 839 (Tex.1992); see also Downer v. Aquamarine Operators, Inc., 701 S.W.2d 238, 242 (Tex.1985).

Review of the trial court's determination of the legal principles controlling its ruling is much less deferential. See Walker, 827 S.W.2d at 840. A trial court has no discretion in determining what the law is or applying the law to the facts, even when the law is unsettled. Prudential, 148 S.W.3d at 135. A clear failure by the trial court to analyze or apply the law correctly will constitute an abuse of discretion. Walker, 827 S.W.2d at 840.

Absent extraordinary circumstances, mandamus will not issue unless the relator lacks an adequate remedy by appeal. In re Van Waters & Rogers, Inc., 145 S.W.3d 203, 210–11 (Tex.2004) (orig. proceeding). Whether a clear abuse of discretion can be adequately remedied by appeal depends on a careful analysis of costs and benefits of interlocutory review. In re McAllen Med. Ctr., Inc., 275 S.W.3d 458, 464 (Tex.2008) (orig. proceeding). Because it depends heavily on circumstances, such a cost-benefit analysis must be guided by principles rather than by simple rules that treat cases as categories. See id.

Clear Abuse of Discretion

Relators assert that the trial court abused its discretion in determining that Relators had judicially admitted, in their respective motion for summary judgment, that the sponge was retained in the 1995 tubal ligation surgery...