COA to hear arguments at college
As a part of its "Appeals on Wheels" initiative, a panel of Indiana Court of Appeals judges will visit St. Mary-of-the-Woods College Nov. 17 to hear arguments in a medical malpractice suit.
Medical malpractice
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Justices to hear compulsive gambling case
The Indiana Supreme Court will hear arguments in three cases Thursday, including a suit in which a woman claims a casino took advantage of her gambling addiction. Arguments begin at 9 a.m. in Caesars Riverboat Casino LLC v. Genevieve Kephart, No. 31S01-0909-CV-303. Caesars originally filed a suit against Genevieve Kephart after she failed to repay a gambling debt. The casino sought repayment, treble damages, and attorney fees. But Kephart counterclaimed, arguing the casino unjustly enriched itself because it knew she had…
Lawyer entitled to $1.05 million default judgment
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed a default judgment in favor of an Indiana attorney because an Illinois attorney demonstrated "contumacious disregard" for a trial court's orders.
Court rules on tort claims and wrongful death
The Indiana Supreme Court tackled the issue of the interaction of the statute of limitations provision under the state's Wrongful Death Act and the statute of limitations provision for an underlying substantive tort claim in two opinions released Dec. 24.
Worker’s comp claim bars med mal complaint
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the denial of a hospital's motion to dismiss a medical malpractice complaint because
the claimant, who was employed by the hospital and on duty at the time of the injury, could only file a complaint against
the employer under the Worker's Compensation Act.
Settlement may be largest of its kind: State agency resolves federal lawsuit that began with legal malpractice claim
An Indianapolis law firm has been holding its breath for two years. Ever since getting hit with a potentially devastating $17.9 million jury verdict on a legal malpractice claim in state court, the 45-year-old law firm Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe hasn’t been able to put the focus on its daily client business without acknowledging that dark storm cloud hovering overhead. Now, the storm cloud has dissolved. In what may be the state’s largest-ever liquidation return of its kind, the Indiana…
Sexual misconduct doesn’t fall under MedMal act
The Indiana Court of Appeals today affirmed a trial court determination that an employee's sexual conduct with a patient can't constitute a rendition of health care or professional services, so a negligent hiring complaint against a hospital based on that conduct doesn't fall under the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act.
Court upholds damages award
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court decision that excluded arguments and evidence from the Indiana Patient’s Compensation Fund relating to the survival rate of the decedent because their argument regarded liability, which had already been established through a settlement. In Jim Atterholt, Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Insurance as Administrator of the Indiana Patient’s Compensation Fund v. Geneva Herbst, personal representative of the estate of Jeffrey A. Herbst, No. 49A04-0702-CV-106, the Indiana Patient’s Compensation Fund appealed the grant…
Incurred risk not malpractice defense
A doctor cannot use evidence of a patient’s previous surgeries or pursue an incurred-risk defense against a medical malpractice suit, the Court of Appeals ruled today. In Brenda Spar v. Jin S. Cha, M.D., No. 45A05-0611-CV-683, Spar appealed the jury decision in favor of Dr. Cha in her medical malpractice claim against the OB/GYN for a surgery he performed on her. Spar previously had been in a serious automobile accident and as a result had numerous abdominal surgeries. When she decided to…
Majority: hospital owed duty to patient
Indiana Court of Appeals judges were split in their decision March 12 regarding whether a hospital that performed a surgery on a woman with suspected domestic violence injuries should have prevented her from leaving with her ex-husband and alleged abuser, who later killed both of them on the way home from the hospital. At issue in Ava McSwane and Danielle Hays v. Bloomington Hospital and Healthcare System and Jean M. Eelma, M.D., No. 53A04-0705-CV-243, is what duty the hospital owed to McSwane’s daughter, Malia…
High court grants, vacates transfers
The Indiana Supreme Court granted transfer to a case regarding whether the Indiana Patient’s Compensation Fund can introduce evidence of liability on an action seeking excess damages. The court also vacated a transfer in a case that involves an amendment to charging information that happened after the omnibus date. The court granted transfer to Jim Atterholt, Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Insurance, as Administrator of theIndiana Patient’s Compensation Fund v. Geneva Herbst, personal representative of the estate of Jeffrey A….
Court upholds damages award against doctor
The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a damages award to the parents of a stillborn child against a doctor, finding the trial court properly excluded opinion testimony from two treating doctors and a letter written to those doctors before the trial by the parents’ attorney. In Jeffrey L. Cain, M.D. v. Richard Back and Suzette Back, No. 20A03-0705-CV-225, Dr. Jeffrey L. Cain appealed the trial court judgment of $800,000 in damages to Richard and Suzette Back on their claim of medical malpractice.The…
COA to travel to Wabash College
The Indiana Court of Appeals will hear arguments Feb. 26 at Wabash College in Crawfordsville. Judges Patricia Riley, James Kirsch, and Melissa May will hear the appeal from Monroe Circuit Court of H.D., et al. v. BHC Meadows Hospital, Inc. at 3 p.m. In this appeal, the court is asked to decide whether the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act requires a juvenile and his or her parents to bring claims from a breach of patient confidentiality before a medical review panel prior…
$1.25 million med mal verdict affirmed
The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a $1.25 million jury verdict and in doing so ruled on three issues of first impression
that will likely impact future medical malpractice suits.
COA: Laser hair removal not ‘health care’
Laser hair removal isn’t considered “health care” within the meaning of the state’s Medical Malpractice Act, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today.A unanimous ruling today affirmed a trial court decision in OB-GYN Associates of Northern Indiana P.C. v. Tammy Ransbottom, No. 71A03-0711-CV-503, which involved a St. Joseph County case and the denial of a motion to dismiss a negligence action. In January 2006, Ransbottom had gone to a Mishawaka OB-GYN’s office and underwent the cosmetic laser hair removal treatment. She went…
Justices analyze occurrence-based limitations
Two Indiana Supreme Court justices dissented from the majority today in two medical malpractice suits because they believed the majority's reasoning behind the decisions that both plaintiffs' claims are time-barred would foster suspicion and doubt between health-care providers and their patients.
Court rules on med mal statute of limitations
The Indiana Court of Appeals today reversed and remanded to Lake Circuit Court a medical malpractice case, holding that it is unconstitutional to apply the state statute’s “occurrence-based” nature to the man suing a surgeon.In Victor Herron v. Anthony A. Anigbo, M.D. http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/05230712jsk.pdf , No. 45A03-0608-CV-378, the three-judge panel ruled the trial court erred in concluding that Herron’s discovery date allowed for sufficient knowledge to discover the malpractice.The suit stems from Herron’s fall outside his home and his admittance to a…
Court: Wrongful death claim timely filed
Indiana’s professional statute of limitations does not trump the state’s Wrongful Death Act’s statute of limitations, ruled the Indiana Court of Appeals. In The Estate of Martha O’Neal, by personal representative Therese Newkirk v. Bethlehem Woods Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, LLC, No. 90A05-0705-CV-271, the appellate court was asked to decided if the statute of limitations had expired prior to O’Neal’s estate filing a wrongful death complaint against Bethlehem on Oct 22, 2003. O’Neal was admitted to Bethlehem for rehabilitation on Sept. 10,…
Supreme Court grants 5 transfers
Indiana’s top jurists granted transfer Wednesday in five cases and will consider issues involving physicians who leave foreign objects in a patient’s body, parental termination hearings conducted without the parent, timely court-filing deadlines, and the sentencing options courts have after probation violations.In Russell Prewitt v. State of Indiana, No. 10A04-0610-CR-589, the Court of Appeals in April reversed a Clark County case in which the judge revised a sentence after the defendant violated his probation. The appellate judges held that the lower…
High court rules doctor can sue in med mal case
The Indiana Supreme Court ruled that summary judgment should not have been granted because it prohibited a doctor from asserting a statutory negligence claim against a medical malpractice claimant, her attorney, and her attorney’s law firm.In the ruling Wednesday, Justices Brent Dickson and Ted Boehm concurred, with Chief Justice Randall Shepard concurring in a separate opinion. Justice Frank Sullivan concurred in part and dissented in part with a separate opinion in which Justice Robert Rucker concurred.In Eusebio Kho M.D. v Deborah…