West Volusia Hospital Authority v. Williams, V-365
| Decision Date | 28 January 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. V-365,V-365 |
| Parties | WEST VOLUSIA HOSPITAL AUTHORITY d/b/a West Volusia Memorial Hospital, and St. Paul Hospital & Casualty Company, a Minnesota Corporation, Petitioners, v. Mary Lee WILLIAMS, Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Willie Ralph Williams, Deceased, et al., Respondents. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Edna L. Caruso, Howell, Kirby, Montgomery, D'Aiuto & Dean, West Palm Beach, for petitioners.
Michael McDermott, Provitola & McDermott, DeLand, for respondents.
By Petition for Writ of Common Law Certiorari, petitioners, West Volusia Hospital Authority and its insurance carrier, seek review of an order of the trial court overruling petitioners' objections to a motion to produce certain incident reports.
Respondents filed a compliant in the Circuit Court seeking damages as a result of death of one Willie Williams, whose death was allegedly caused by injuries sustained by the decedent while a patient at the West Volusia Memorial Hospital. Although the complaint alleges that petitioner Hospital Authority 'was careless and negligent in failing to maintain proper supervision and control of its facilities, and its staff of nurses and other non-professionals', the only proximate cause alleged in the complaint of the incident allegedly resulting in the injuries to and death of Willie Williams is an allegation that decedent was injured when his bed side rails collapsed as he was attempting to lift himself from or onto an elevated hospital bed, which bed side rails are alleged to have been maintained in a defective condition, and which defective condition was allegedly known or reasonably should have been known to petitioner Hospital Authority. There is no allegation in the complaint that the decedent's fall and resulting injuries resulted from any act or omission other than the collapsing of the bed side rails.
Respondents filed a request to produce pursuant to Rule 1.350(a) RCP seeking 'incident reports of defendant pertaining to incidents involving the falls from hospital beds at West Volusia Memorial Hospital' for a one year period preceding the date of the incident giving rise to this controversy. Petitioners' objections were overruled and they were ordered to produce such incident reports.
Petitioners assert that inasmuch as respondents' complaint is based on an incident alleged to have resulted solely because of the collapsing of a defective bed rail, reports of falls resulting from other causes are immaterial and may not be reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. 1 We agree.
Were there allegations in the complaint that decedent's fall resulted from negligent supervision or some other such cause then we would have an entirely different question. However, inasmuch as the decedent's fall is alleged to have been caused by a defective bed rail we fail to see how incident reports of falls allegedly resulting from slick floors, lack of supervision, faulty thresholds or a myriad of other causes could be relevant or could be reasonably expected to lead to the discovery of relevant evidence.
Respondents have cited, and rely upon, a...
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