Rimert v. Mortell
| Decision Date | 05 June 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 49A02-9605-CV-293,49A02-9605-CV-293 |
| Citation | 680 N.E.2d 867 |
| Parties | Elizabeth R. RIMERT, Conservator of Gary Alan Rimert, Incompetent, Appellant-Plaintiff, v. John F. MORTELL, Commissioner of Insurance of the State of Indiana, Appellee-Defendant, and M.I. Desai. M.D., and Legion Insurance Company, Nominal Appellees. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Elizabeth R. Rimert (Betty), mother and conservator of Gary Alan Rimert (Gary), an incompetent, appeals the trial court's denial of her petition for payment of damages from the Patient's Compensation Fund (the PCF). She presents the following restated issues for our review:
(1) Does settlement of a medical malpractice claim by a health care provider under Indiana's Medical Malpractice Act bar a trial court, upon a petition for payment of excess damages from the Patient's Compensation Fund, from inquiring into the extent of the liability of the health care provider?
(2) May a plaintiff, who is imprisoned for life upon conviction of a crime, recover, from a tort-feasor, "loss of enjoyment of life" damages allegedly suffered as the result of his imprisonment? 1
(3) Are legal fees, incurred to defend against criminal charges arising out of a criminal act, occasioned, at least in part, by medical malpractice, compensable damages?1
(4) May a plaintiff recover damages from a tort-feasor for the emotional distress alleged to have resulted from imprisonment upon conviction of a crime? 1
In June of 1990, Dr. Judy Anderson diagnosed Gary as psychotic and recommended that he be hospitalized. On June 14, 1990, Dr. M.I. Desai admitted Gary into the Lafayette Home Hospital, where he was treated by Dr. Desai for nearly a month. Dr. Desai prescribed a variety of anti-psychotic medications for Gary, and released him into the custody of his parents on July 11, 1990.
On July 13, 1990, Betty agreed to allow Gary to use a family automobile on the condition that he take his medication and return between 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. for dinner. However, instead of returning home, Gary left Indiana and drove to his grandparents' home in South Carolina. On the morning of July 14, 1990, several hours after his arrival in South Carolina, Gary killed both of his grandparents and two of their neighbors by stabbing them with a kitchen knife. Gary was subsequently charged in South Carolina with four counts of murder. Gary pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He was found guilty but mentally ill on all four counts and was sentenced by the trial court to life imprisonment on each count. His conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court of South Carolina. State v. Rimert (1994) 315 S.C. 527, 446 S.E.2d 400, reh'g denied, cert. denied, (1995) 513 U.S. 1080, 115 S.Ct. 730, 130 L.Ed.2d 634.
On March 27, 1992, Betty submitted to the Indiana Department of Insurance a proposed complaint for malpractice against Dr. Desai, claiming that Dr. Desai negligently discharged Gary from the Lafayette Home Hospital. Betty claimed that the four murders and Gary's subsequent imprisonment all resulted from Dr. Desai's alleged negligence. On January 31, 1994, Dr. Desai's insurance carrier settled Betty's claim for a total of $100,000, the maximum recovery permitted under the Medical Malpractice Act. Betty then filed a petition for payment of damages in excess of the $100,000 from the PCF, seeking recovery for Gary's loss of enjoyment of life due to his imprisonment, for his legal defense fees, and for Gary's emotional distress. The PCF has been represented by counsel for the Commissioner of Insurance of the State of Indiana.
Following a bench trial, the court denied Betty's petition. The court held that the damages stemming from Gary's life imprisonment, including loss of enjoyment of life, criminal defense expenses, and emotional pain and suffering, were not compensable under Indiana law. The court also held, apparently in the alternative, that Dr. Desai's release of Gary was not the proximate cause of the murders or of Gary's imprisonment. (R. 84-95) Betty appeals the trial court's judgment.
Betty claims upon appeal that the trial court erroneously addressed Dr. Desai's liability for the requested damages by discussing the issue of proximate causation. Under the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act, I.C. 27-12-1-1 to 27-12-18-2 (Burns Code Ed.1994), once a health care provider files proof that it is insured by a policy of malpractice liability insurance in the amount of at least $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 in the aggregate, I.C. 27-12-4-1, and pays an annual surcharge, I.C. 27-12-5-1, the provider is "qualified" and cannot be liable in a medical malpractice action for an amount greater than $100,000. I.C. 27-12-14-3(b). If a health care provider or his insurer settles its liability up to the maximum $100,000, the claimant may seek additional damages from the PCF. I.C. 27-12-15-3 provides:
If a health care provider or its insurer has agreed to settle its liability on a claim by payment of its policy limits of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), and the claimant is demanding an amount in excess of that amount, the following procedure must be followed:
(1) A petition shall be filed by the claimant ...:
...
(B) Demanding payment of damages from the patient's compensation fund.
....
(4) The judge of the court in which the petition is filed shall set the petition for approval or, if objections have been filed, for hearing, as soon as practicable....
(5).... If the commissioner, the health care provider, the insurer of the health care provider, and the claimant cannot agree on the amount, if any, to be paid out of the patient's compensation fund, the court shall, after hearing any relevant evidence on the issue of claimant's damage submitted by any of the parties described in this section, determine the amount of claimant's damages, if any, in excess of the one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) already paid by the insurer of the health care provider. The court shall determine the amount for which the fund is liable and make a finding and judgment accordingly. In approving a settlement or determining the amount, if any, to be paid from the patient's compensation fund, the court shall consider the liability of the health care provider as admitted and established. (emphasis supplied).
It is Betty's position that under the last sentence of I.C. 27-12-15-3(5), once a health care provider or its insurer agrees to settle a malpractice claim by payment of its policy limits of $100,000, neither the provider nor the insurer may contest the provider's liability in subsequent proceedings for excess payments from the PCF. Under the settlement agreement entered into between Betty and Dr. Desai's insurance carrier, the parties expressly agreed to "settle the liability of said Desai and his Insurer as to Plaintiff's claims...." Record at 23. Betty argues that since Dr. Desai's insurance carrier agreed to settle her claims against Dr. Desai, the trial court was obligated to consider Dr. Desai's liability as established. Betty further argues that a resolution of liability necessarily involves the resolution of issues of proximate causation, and that therefore the trial court should not have inquired into the extent to which Dr. Desai's negligence proximately caused the damages she seeks.
The Commissioner disagrees, claiming that a settlement of liability is, in effect, merely an admission of a negligent act, and is not an admission of proximate causation of damages flowing from that act. We are not entirely unsympathetic to the logic of the Commissioner's argument. Under the Commissioner's reasoning, neither health care providers nor insurance carriers should, by deciding to settle a medical malpractice case, be able to unilaterally bind the PCF to the payment of damages, because settlement decisions may often be based upon factors unrelated to the strength of a plaintiff's case. Thus, the Commissioner appears to maintain that, if issues such as proximate causation could be relitigated in a hearing upon a petition for excess damages from the PCF, the PCF would not be obligated to pay damages that should not have been awarded in the first place.
However, this question was decided against the Commissioner in Dillon v. Glover (1992) Ind.App., 597 N.E.2d 971, trans. denied. In Glover, this court rejected a contention that I.C. 16-9.5-4-3, the predecessor of I.C. 27-12-15-3, merely equated the settlement of liability with an admission of the commission of a negligent act, and therefore permitted a trial court to determine whether this negligence proximately caused the claimed damages. We recognized that the question of proximate causation is a component of the greater concept of liability and that, therefore, if liability has been established, the issue of proximate causation has necessarily been decided. Id. at 973 (citing Dunn v. Cadiente (1987) Ind., 516 N.E.2d 52). The court concluded that once the provider's liability upon the claim has been settled, the statute prohibits the litigation of a health care provider's liability, thus foreclosing the issue of proximate causation. Id. As we stated in Glover, "[i]n our view the Statute contemplates that, upon a petition for excess damages, the trial court will determine the amount of damages, if any, due to the claimant, not whether the provider is liable for damages." (emphasis in original) Id. at 973 (footnote omitted). While the policy underlying the Commissioner's position is appealing, the Commissioner's arguments in this regard should be directed toward the legislature, whose statute clearly supports Betty's position.
Although the trial court erroneously determined that Dr. Desai did not proximately cause the damages sought by Betty, it appears that the trial court's...
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