Watts v. Lynn
| Decision Date | 02 February 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 19935,19935 |
| Citation | 870 P.2d 1300,125 Idaho 341 |
| Parties | Sandra WATTS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Dr. James A. LYNN, Jr., and Available Products, Inc., and Benito Cicioni d/b/a Elbee Chemist, Defendants-Respondents. Coeur d'Alene, October 1993 Term |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Rehearing by Bistline, Justice April 7, 1994.
Holland & Hart, Boise, for appellant. Steven B. Andersen, argued.
Paine, Hamblen, Coffin, Brooke & Miller, Coeur d'Alene, for respondent Lynn. Peter C. Erbland, argued.
Quane, Smith, Howard & Hull, Coeur d'Alene, for respondents Available Products and Elbee Chemist. Randall R. Adams, argued.
This is a medical malpractice case. In July of 1986, Sandra Watts (Watts) sued her Wallace, Idaho dentist, Dr. James A. Lynn (Lynn), after she suffered medical problems allegedly caused by Lynn's negligence during a root canal procedure performed on or about April 12, 1984. In particular, Watts claimed that Lynn should not have used a tooth filler called "Sargenti Paste."
In her original complaint, Watts also named "Sargenti Corporation" as the manufacturer of Sargenti Paste. In actuality, no such corporation exists and Watts had only used the name "Sargenti Corporation" because the true name of the manufacturer of Sargenti Paste was unknown at the time the initial complaint was filed. Later the complaint was amended to name defendants Available Products, Inc. (Available) and Benito Cicioni d/b/a Elbee Chemist (Elbee), the manufacturer of Sargenti Paste.
Lynn moved for summary judgment, arguing that Watts could not comply with I.C. §§ 6-1012, 6-1013, which require that a medical malpractice plaintiff's expert witness demonstrate knowledge of the community standard of health care applicable to the alleged malpractice. In opposition thereto, Watts proffered testimony of three expert witnesses: (1) Dr. Stephen Cohen, a board-certified endodontist from San Francisco, California; (2) Dr. Blake McKinley, a board-certified endodontist from Spokane, Washington; and (3) Dr. Lee P. Coppess, a general practitioner from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. All three of these doctors were deposed, and Drs. Cohen and Coppess filed affidavits. For purposes of our holding herein, only the affidavit of Dr. Cohen is relevant.
In his affidavit Dr. Cohen opined that Lynn's treatment of Watts fell below the community standard of care and constituted malpractice. With regard to his familiarity with the local standard of care, Dr. Cohen advised that he had familiarized himself with the community standard of care as it existed in Wallace in 1984, and that he had actual knowledge of that standard. Dr. Cohen stated that he had had discussions with three unnamed dentists--one in Coeur d'Alene, one in Pinehurst and one in Wallace. In his affidavit, specifically that part discussing his communication with a Wallace dentist (who the trial court found to be Dr. Branz), Dr. Cohen stated:
I have also familiarized myself specifically with the applicable community standards existing in 1984 in the Silver Valley, Idaho geographical community by discussing that subject with a dentist [Dr. Branz] in general practice in Wallace, Idaho, who was also practicing in Wallace, Idaho, during 1984. I confirmed that the standard of care of the practice of dentistry and the standard of care of endodontics for patients in the Wallace, Idaho, geographical community, as they existed in 1984, were the same as the national standards in the same areas of practice. I also confirmed with the local dentist that there were no deviations in the Silver Valley, Idaho geographical community in 1984 from the national standard of practice in the practice of dentistry and endodontics.
The trial court granted Lynn's motion for summary judgment, holding that the affidavit Available and Elbee also moved for summary judgment, arguing that Watts' claims against them were time-barred by I.C. § 5-219(4), which provides a two-year statute of limitations. Lynn performed Watts' root canal on April 12, 1984. Watts' initial complaint, filed on April 4, 1986, did not name Available and Elbee as defendants, instead naming a non-existent entity called "Sargenti Corporation." Watts did not indicate anywhere in the complaint that a fictitious name was being used until the true name was discovered. In her amended complaint, filed on November 21, 1986, Watts named defendants Available and Elbee. This amendment was filed more than two years after her April 12, 1984 procedure.
[125 Idaho 344] and deposition testimony of each of Watts' experts was insufficient because the experts did not know the applicable community standard of health care. The trial court found Dr. Cohen's affidavit insufficient because the local dentist with whom he conferred, Dr. Branz, stated in an affidavit submitted by Lynn that he had told Dr. Cohen that the use of Sargenti Paste by Lynn was within the community standard of health care.
The trial court granted the summary judgment motion of defendants Available and Elbee, rejecting Watts' argument that under I.R.C.P. 10(a)(4) and this Court's holding in Chacon v. Sperry Corp., 111 Idaho 270, 723 P.2d 814 (1986), her amended complaint related back to the filing of her initial complaint and therefore her claims against Available and Elbee were not time-barred. The trial court found that Watts' failure to specifically designate "Sargenti Corporation" as a fictitious party in her initial complaint precluded her amended complaint from relating back to her original complaint under Chacon. Thus, the court found that Watts' claims against Available and Elbee were time-barred under the two-year statute of limitations of I.C. § 5-219(4).
Watts has appealed the grant of summary judgment to the defendants. For the reasons given below, we reverse the trial court's grant of summary judgment for Lynn and affirm the trial court's grant of summary judgment for Available and Elbee.
The trial court granted summary judgment to Dr. Lynn because it found that Watts' experts failed to establish the requisite familiarity with the applicable community standard of care as required by I.C. § 6-1013 1. Under I.C. § 6-1013, a plaintiff's expert must establish malpractice through the testimony of at least one expert giving expert medical opinion: (1) actually held by the expert; (2) which opinion can be testified to with reasonable medical certainty; and (3) In Kozlowski v. Rush, 121 Idaho 825, 828 P.2d 854 (1992), the defendant-physician was a medical doctor, practicing in Pocatello, Idaho. The plaintiff's expert witness was a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist from Boston, Massachusetts. The plaintiff's expert testified that he was familiar with the local standard of care in Pocatello at the time of the alleged malpractice based on his board certification and his review of the deposition of another board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist who was practicing in Pocatello at the time of the alleged malpractice, which deposition was to the effect that the local standard of care at that time was the same as the national standard of care with one exception irrelevant to the case at hand. The plaintiff's expert testified that the treatment by the defendant-physician fell below the local standard of care during the relevant time period. The trial court struck the testimony of the plaintiff's expert, finding that the plaintiff's expert had not familiarized himself with and did not establish what the local standard of care was in Pocatello at the time of the alleged malpractice. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the trial court erred in striking the plaintiff's expert's testimony, stating that the expert's review of the deposition of a Pocatello obstetrician-gynecologist regarding local standards and their similarity to national standards, along with his personal knowledge regarding national standards in similar cases, was enough to lay a foundation for his opinion regarding the actions of the defendant.
[125 Idaho 345] which includes actual knowledge of the local community standard to which the expert's opinion is addressed. If the expert is not from the locality where the alleged malpractice occurred, the expert is not precluded from testifying but must demonstrate an adequate familiarity with local standards. Clarke v. Prenger, 114 Idaho 766, 760 P.2d 1182 (1988). This familiarity must be site and time specific. Gubler v. Boe, 120 Idaho 294, 815 P.2d 1034 (1991). As issues relating to the sufficiency of expert affidavits in medical malpractice cases have arisen on a fairly regular basis, a brief discussion of some of the Court's decisions may be useful.
In Clarke, 114 Idaho at 766, 760 P.2d at 1182, the defendant-physicians were a board-certified family practitioner in Silverton, Idaho, and a board-certified general surgeon in Silverton, Idaho. The plaintiff's expert witness was a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist from the state of Washington who stated that he had reviewed the pertinent medical records and treatment and was familiar with the standard of care in Shoshone County, Idaho and that the defendants' treatment of plaintiff fell below that standard. The trial court entered summary judgment for the defendant-physicians, ruling that the plaintiff's expert did not demonstrate the requisite familiarity with the community standard of care, and that plaintiff's expert was not in the same specialty of medicine as the defendant-physicians. The Court reversed, holding that the statements in the expert's affidavits established knowledge of the local standard of care and that the classification of the expert is not determinative. Clarke, 114 Idaho at 768, 760 P.2d at 1184. See also Frank v. East Shoshone...
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