### IN THE COURT OF APP EALS OF TENNESS EE AT JAC KSON O ct obe r 9, 200 7 S es sio n HEL EN M. BORNER, ET AL 

### . v. DANNY R. A UTRY A Dire ct A ppeal f

rom the Circ uit Court for Madison Cou nty No. C-04- 502 The Hon orable Donald Allen, Ju dge

No. W2007-00731-C OA-R9-C V

SEPARA TE CONCURRENCE - F iled Dece m ber 13, 2007

________________________ H O L L Y M

. K IR B Y , J

. , c o n c u r r i n g s e p ar a t e l y: Ic on c ur fu lly wi th t he re su lt r e a c he d b y th e maj ority in t his c a se . Re sp e c tf

ull y , I fi le thi s separ ate c oncurr ence in order to state my disag ree ment with dicta in the majority opinion. I n th is c a se , th e pla int if

fs e a c h atta c he d me dic a l bi lls wh ic h we re re da c te d to r e mov e c ha rg e s, so th at the total char g es in the attac hed bills were less than the $4,000.00 statutory limit . The majority holds that redac ting bills in or der to make them fit under the $4,000.00 statutory limit is not permitted, and that the plaintiffs wer e there fore require d to pr esent expert medical proof reg arding the re asonable ness and ne cessity of those cha

rg es. I ag ree . The majority , howeve r, uses languag e broad enoug h to be interpre ted to e x tend bey ond the narr ow issue in this c ase. The lang uag e used by the majority

appea rs to indicate that, to fit under the statutory limit , the total of all

medical c harges i ncurr ed by a plaintiff must not exceed $4,000.00, reg ardle ss of whethe r the bills are attache d to the complaint or civil war rant. Thi s could be interpre ted to mean that, should a defe ndant conduct discovery and find medical bills from provider s such as chiroprac tors, phy sical t hera pists and the like, whic h wer e not attac hed to the complaint or the civil war

rant, a nd the total of these bills along with those attache d t o the complaint exceede d $ 4 , 0 0 0

. 0 0 , t h e p l a i n t i f

f w o u l d b e r e qu i r e d

t o s u b m i te x p e rtp r o o f

o f r e a s o n a b l e n e s s an d

n e c e s s i t y. I ndeed, the lang uag e used by the majority does not e ven limit the bills to be totaled to those arising o u to f a s i n g l e i l l n e s s , d i s e a s e , o r i n j u r y. The majority

cites no leg islative history to support this expansive interpre tation. Mor eover , it i s n ot s up po rt ed by th e lan gu a g e of the statut e . T he ma

jor ity se e ms t o im

ply that th e statut e re qu ir e s th e pla int if

f t o atta c h to the c omp la int all medical bills incurre d. The statute simply does not say that. I t sa

y s only that the total a

mount of the bills which ar e a tta c he d to the c omp la int mus t no t e xce e d $ 4, 00 0. 00 in o rd e r f or the statut or

y pr e sumpt ion

to a pp ly . T he statut e pr ov ide s:-2-

(a )( 1) Pr oo f .

. . tha

t me dic a l . . . b ill s w e re pa id or inc ur re d be c a us e of any ill ne ss, d i s e a s e , o r

i n j u r y may be it emized in the complaint

. . . with a copy of bi lls paid or incurre d attache d as an ex hibit to the complaint

. . . . The bills itemiz ed and attached as an e x hibit shall be prima fac ie eviden ce that the bills so paid or incurre d wer e nece ssary and re asonable

. * * * (3 ) T his pr ima fa c ie pr e sumpt ion sh a ll a pp ly to t he me dic a l . . . b ill s it e mize d w ith c op ie s of bill s att a c he d to th e c omp la int

. . .; p ro vid e d, that the total amount of such bil ls does not exceed the sum of four thousand dollar s ($4,000). Tenn. Code Ann. § 24- 5-113(a )(1) and (3)

. Thus, while I ag ree that the t otal of the unre dacte d bills attached to the c omplaint must not exceed $4,000.00 in orde r for the statutory

presumption to apply , Idisag ree with the d i ct a in the majority opinion which seems to indicate that t h e t o tal of all medica l bills paid or incur red by the plaintiff, re g ardle ss of wh et h er the y are attache d to the complaint, must not ex cee d $4,000.00. There fore , Irespe ctfully

submit t his separate conc urre nce.

_________________________________________ H O L L Y M

. K I R B Y , J.