Labiche v. La. Patients' Comp. Fund Bd.

• Decision Date: 18 February 2000
• Docket Number: No. 98 CA 2880.,98 CA 2880.
• Parties: Michael LABICHE v. LOUISIANA PATIENTS' COMPENSATION FUND OVERSIGHT BOARD.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

753 So.2d 376

Michael LABICHE v. LOUISIANA PATIENTS' COMPENSATION FUND OVERSIGHT BOARD.

No. 98 CA 2880.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

February 18, 2000.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Byron J. Casey, III, Metairie, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellant, Michael Labiche.

Larry M. Roedel, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Defendant/Appellee, La. Patients' Compensation Fund Oversight Board.

Charles P. Blanchard, New Orleans, Counsel for Defendant/Appellee, La. Patients' Compensation Fund.

Before: CARTER, LeBLANC and PETTIGREW, JJ.

LeBLANC, J.

On August 23, 1991, Rhonda Labiche sustained a cardiorespiratory arrest and has remained in a coma since that date. She was originally hospitalized at Slidell Memorial Hospital, but on December 30, 1991, she was transferred to Montelepre Long Term Care Facility. Plaintiff, Michael Labiche, Mrs. Labiche's husband, filed a claim on January 9, 1992, alleging medical negligence by Mrs. Labiche's physician. On May 6, 1992, Mr. Labiche moved his wife home and began to provide her with custodial care.

A decision by the medical review panel found Mrs. Labiche's physician had deviated from the appropriate standard of care, and Mr. Labiche filed suit in federal court, based on diversity jurisdiction. Mr. Labiche agreed to a settlement wherein he released the physician and the Louisiana Patients' Compensation Fund (the Fund) from "any and all claims". The federal court approved the settlement, and on July 22, 1993, Mr. Labiche's claim was dismissed.

On November 1, 1993, Egan Health Care Services began to provide custodial care for Mrs. Labiche at her home. Mr. Labiche subsequently filed a claim with the Fund for the costs of custodial care he provided to his wife at their home from May 6, 1992 until November 1, 1993. After two hearings, the Louisiana Patients' Compensation Fund Oversight Board (the Board) awarded Mr. Labiche costs for custodial care he had supplied his wife for the time period July 22, 1993 through November 1, 1993, at a rate of $6.00 per hour, for sixteen hours per day. The Board denied his claim for custodial care costs from May 6, 1992 until July 22, 1993, finding his release "more likely than not, encompassed" these costs.

Originally, plaintiff sought review of the Board's decision in federal court, presuming jurisdiction remained there based on that court's approval of the earlier settlement agreement in the original malpractice action. However, the federal court ordered the request for review dismissed based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The federal court held the Louisiana Administrative Procedures Act, La. R.S. 49:950 et seq., placed subject matter jurisdiction in the district court.

Plaintiff, therefore, then sought review of the Board's decision in the 19th Judicial District Court, naming both the Board and the Fund as defendants. The Fund filed a declinatory exception raising the objection of lack of subject matter jurisdiction and a peremptory exception raising the objections of prescription, no cause of action and res judicata. The district court denied the Fund's exceptions of lack of subject matter jurisdiction and prescription and granted the exceptions of no cause of action and res judicata, dismissing plaintiff's petition based on the release by Mr. Labiche.

This court, in Labiche v. Louisiana Patients' Compensation Fund Oversight Board, 96-1310 (La.App. 1 Cir. 5/9/97), 699 So.2d 408, affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiffs petition based upon the court's own exception raising the objection of peremption. This court held the period of time fixed by the governing statute for review of the Board's decisions is peremptive, rather than prescriptive. As peremptive, it was not subject to interruption by plaintiff's filing in federal court and was untimely when filed in district court. Labiche, 96-1310 at 4, 699 So.2d at 410. The Louisiana Supreme Court reversed and remanded this matter back to the district court, holding the plaintiffs petition was timely. Labiche v. Louisiana Patient's [sic] Compensation Fund Oversight Board, 97-2765, p. 1 (La.2/20/98), 706 So.2d 428.

Upon remand, the Fund and the Board filed peremptory exceptions raising the objections of res judicata and no cause of action. The defendants asserted the prior settlement by Mr. Labiche included his claim for costs of custodial care and therefore, his current claim for these costs was res judicata. The district court granted the exceptions and dismissed plaintiff's petition. In his oral reasons, the district court stated " I am going to observe the law of the case, and I am going to grant the exceptions of res judicata and no cause of action ...."

On appeal, plaintiff asserts several legal arguments: 1) the "law of the case" doctrine is not controlling; 2) res judicata is not applicable; 3) dismissal of plaintiff's petition was error; and 4) the Board's award of $6.00 per hour was error.

I.

The law of the case doctrine applies to all prior rulings or decisions of an appellate court or the supreme court in the same case, not merely those arising from the full appeal process. Sanders v. Posi-Seal International, 95-0701, p. 3 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2/23/96), 668 So.2d 742, 745, writ denied, 96-0745 (La.5/10/96), 672 So.2d 924, (quoting Dodson v. Community Blood Center of Louisiana, Inc., 633 So.2d 252, 255 (La.App. 1 Cir.1993), writs denied, 93-3158, 93-3174 (La.3/18/94), 634 So.2d 850, 851). Under the doctrine, an appellate court generally will not, on a subsequent appeal, reconsider its earlier ruling in the same case involving the same parties who had their day in court, unless manifest injustice will result. Bell v. Roddy, 94-0298, p. 8 (La.App. 1 Cir. 10/7/94), 646 So.2d 967, 972, writ denied, 95-0440 (La.3/30/95), 651 So.2d 848, cert. denied, 516 U.S. 857, 116 S.Ct. 163, 133 L.Ed.2d 105 (1995). Some of the reasons for the doctrine include the avoidance of indefinite relitigation of the same issue, the desirability of consistency of the result in the same litigation, and the efficiency, and the essential fairness to both sides, of affording a single opportunity for the argument and decision of the matter. Petition of Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, 278 So.2d 81, 83 (La.1973).

However, the law of the case doctrine is a discretionary guide. It has no application when an appellate court reviews a ruling of the district court or when there is palpable error in a prior ruling. Landry v. Aetna Insurance Company, 442 So.2d 440 (La.1983).

In the instant matter, the district court originally granted the exceptions of res judicata and no cause of action. The ruling was appealed to this court. However, this court, on its own motion, recognized the peremptory exception of peremption and found the petition for review untimely. Labiche, 96-1310 at 2, 699 So.2d at 409. We specifically pretermitted any discussion of the correctness of the exceptions granted by the district court. Id. After remand by the supreme court, the defendants reurged the exceptions of res judicata and no cause of action, and the district court held the law of the case controlled. By this appeal, the appellant seeks review and urges reversal of the grant of the exceptions raising the objections of res judicata and no cause of action. With no prior review or ruling by an appellate court on the correctness of the district court's original grant of the exceptions of res judicata and no cause of action, the law of the case doctrine is not applicable. The district court erred in applying this doctrine. We will consider the correctness of the district court's grant of the exceptions.

II.

The peremptory exception raising the objection of res judicata is based on the conclusive legal presumption of a thing previously adjudged between the same parties. Matthew v. Melton Truck Lines, Inc., 310 So.2d 691, 693 (La.App. 1 Cir.1975). While the doctrine of res judicata is ordinarily premised on a final judgment, it also applies where there is a transaction or settlement of a disputed or compromised matter that has been entered into by the parties. A release of claim or claims, when given in exchange for consideration, is a compromise and constitutes the basis for a plea of res judicata. Id. However, the authority of the thing adjudged resulting from the release extends to only those matters the parties expressly intended to settle. Id.

The release at issue contains general language purporting to release "any and all claims" plaintiff may have against Mrs. Labiche's physician and the Fund. However, it is well settled that a general release will not bar recovery for those aspects of a claim not intended to be covered by the release. La. C.C. art. 3073; Matthew, 310 So.2d at 693. Thus, the first issue is whether plaintiff and defendants intended to include plaintiff's claim for custodial care costs in the July 22, 1993 release.

We first look to the terms of the release in order to ascertain the parties' intent. The first paragraph of the release contains language in which plaintiff acknowledges receipt of a sum of money and agrees to release the physician and the Fund from:

any and all claims, demands, damages, actions, causes of action, suits . . . of any whatsoever kind or nature, for or because of any matter . . . particularly on account of any and all claims in tort, medical malpractice, breach of contract, and/or informed consent, and including but not limited to any and all physical injuries, wrongful death, survivor action, physical and mental pain and suffering, personal scarring and/or disfigurement, permanent and/or temporary disability, and all cost and expenses related thereto past, present, and future; interest, court costs, attorney's fees, and any and all other elements of damage of whatsoever nature, past, present and future ....

In the second paragraph of the release, the Fund identifies a portion of the payment for "full settlement of all surgical, medical, nursing, and hospital...