T hi s or derand j udgm enti s notbi ndi ng pr ece dentexce ptundert he * doctr i nes of l aw of the ca s e, r es j udi cat a, and col l at er al es t oppel . I tm aybe ci t ed, h o w e v e r, fo r its p e rsu a siv e v a lu e c o n sis ten t w ith F e d . R . A p p . P . 3 2 .1 a n d 1 0 th C i r . R . 32. 1. 

## F I LED United States C ourt of Appeals Tenth Circuit 

### A p ril24,2007 Elisab eth A. Shumaker C l erk of C ourt UNI TED S TATES CO URT O F AP PEALS

T E N T H C IR C U IT SI STERS OF M ERCY HEA LTH S Y S T E M , S T . L O U IS , IN C .,

Pl ai nt i ff- A ppel l ee, N o. 06- 6167 v. ( W . D . O kl ahoma) G . P A U L K U L A , M .D .,

D e fe n d a n t, and P ATRI CI A D. BACHHOFE R,

D e fe n d a n t-A p p e llan t. ( D . C. N o. 05 - CV - 11 5- F)

ORDE R AND J UDGM EN T * B efor e LU CE RO , M UR P HY , and GORS UCH , C i rcui tJudg es. D efen d an t- ap p ell an t, P atri cia B ac h h o fe r, ap p ea ls from the d istri ct co u rt ’s gr antof dec l ar at or yj udgm enti n favorof pl ai nt i ff- appel l ee, Si s t er s of M er cy H eal t h Sy s t em, St . L oui s , I nc. ( “SM H S”) . E xer ci s i ng j ur i s di ct i on pur s uantt o 28 U .S .C . § 1 2 9 1 , this c o u rt a ffi r ms th e d istric t co u rt.A l t hough t he part i es or i gi nal l ys ubm i t t ed the cove r age mat t ert o the 1 d istric t co u rt o n c ro ss -m o tio n s fo r su m m a ryju d g m e n t, th e p a rties e v e n tu a lly agr eed t o have the di s t r i ctcour tdeci de the mat t erpur s uantt o Feder al R ul e of C ivil P roc ed u re 5 2 (sett ing fo rth p roc ed u res fo r tri al of a m att er to the co u rt w ith o u t a j u ry ). N ev erthe less, in d ec iding the c o v era g e issu e, th e d istri ct co u rt r el i ed exc l us i vel yon t he mat er i al s s ubm i t t ed w i th the part i es ’ s um m aryj udgm ent m o tio n s a n d o n th e tra n sc rip t o f th e p a rties ’ o ra l ar g u m e n ts to th e c o u rt. -2- D oct orG . Paul K ul a w as , atone t i m e, a ps y chi atr i s ton the medi cal s t aff of M er cyM emori al H eal t h C ent er( “M er cyM emori al ”) i n A r dm or e, O kl ahoma; B achhoferw as hi s pat i ent . B achhofers ued D r . K ul a forcomm on l aw negl i gence and i nt ent i onal i nfl i ct i on of emot i onal di s tr es s , al l egi ng he had e ngaged i n an im p rop er se x u al relat ion sh ip w ith h er. M erc yM em o ri al pa rt ici p ates in S M H S ’s Pool ed C om pr ehens i ve Li abi l i t yPr ogr am (the “Pr ogr am”) . B eca us e D r . K ul a w as a n e m p lo y e e o f

M e rc yM e m o ria l a q u e stio n a ro se a s to w h e th e r S M H S h a d a d u ty t o defe nd ori ndemni fyD r . K ul a w i th r egar d t o B achhofer ’ s s ui t . SM H S fi l ed the i ns t antact i on, nami ng bot h D r . K ul a and Bachhofe ras defe ndant s , s eeki ng a d e c lar a tio n th a t u n d e r th e P ro g ra m it h a d n o d u tyto d e fe n d o r in d e m n if yD r. K u la in B a c h h o fe r’s u n d e rly in g law su it. In a leng thyan d co m p reh en sive o rde r, the d istri ct co u rtg ran ted d ec laratory j u d g me n t t o S M HS. Th e d i s t r i c tc o u r tb e g a n b yq u o t i n g a tl e n g th f r o m th e t e r ms 1 o f th e P ro g ra m . T h e d istric t co u rt n o ted in p a rticu lar th a t th e c o v e ra g e iss u e s in t hi s cas e w er e governed byA r t i cl es I V and V I of the Pr ogr am, w hi ch l i m i t ed cover age t o “i ndemni t ees ” and de fi ned an i ndemni t ee a s an empl oy ee “ act i ng w i t hi n t he s cope of

hi s orheras s i gned dut i es . ” The di s tr i ctcourtt hen moved on-3-

to c o m p a re th e a lleg a tio n s in B a c h h o fe r’s u n d e rly in g su it ag a in st D r. K u la w ith t he dut i es s etouti n D r . K ul a’ s empl oym entcontr actw i th M er cyM emori al . T hat e x a m in a tio n led th e d istric t co u rt to c o n c lu d e th a t n o n e o f th e a c tio n s D r. K u la w a s a lle g e d to h a v e u n d e rt a k e n w e re w ith in th e s c o p e o f h is a s s ig n e d d u tie s . A l t hough r ecogni zi ng t hatt he Pr ogr am provi s i on “s cope of as s i gned dut i es ” w as n a r r o we rt h a n th e c o mm o n l a w r es pondeats uper i orconce ptof s cope of em ploym ent, t he d i stri ctcou rtno t ed thati t s di sposi t i on w as neve rtheles s cons i s t entw i t h O kl ahoma cas e l aw i nvol vi ng r es pondeats uper i orl i a b i l i ty. O n appea l , B achhoferr ai s es ei ghts epar at el ynum ber ed cha l l enges t o the dis t ri ctcou rt ’s grantof d ecl arat oryj ud gm ent i n fav or of S M H S . E ach o f t hese ei ghtchal l enges , how ever , r el at e t o one s i ngl e di s pos i t i ve i s s ue: does the Pr ogr am im p o se u p o n S M H S a d u tyto d efen d an d ind em n ifyD r. K u la ag ains t B ac h h o fe r’s c l a i m s h e was d a ma g e d b yDr . Kul a ’ s n e g l i g e n t/ i n t e n t i o n a l me d i c a l mi s tr e a t me n t ? T his cou rtrevi ew s de novo t he di s tr i ctcour t ’ s concl us i on thatSM H S had no s uch d u ty. Nai m e v. C

yt oz ym e Labs , Inc. , 174 F. 3d 1104, 1111 ( 10th C i r . 1999) (a p p lyin g , in a s im ila r p ro c e d u ra l c o n te x t, de novo re v iew b e c a u se a p p e llan t “d id notdi s put e the exi s t ence of the evi dence ci t ed bythe di s tr i ctcourt , butr ather ar gue[d] t he di s t r i ctcour terr ed i n concl udi ng thos e document s evi dence a bi ndi ng contr act ” and thus t he di s t r i ctcourt ’ s concl us i on “pr i m ar i l yi nvol ve[d] appl i cat i ons of l egal pr i nci pl es t o the fa ct s ”) . U pon de novo r evi ew of the p arti es’ b ri efs an d su b m issi o n , the d istri ct co u rt ’s w ell -st ated o rde r, an d the e n ti re-4-

r ecor d on appea l , w e ca n di s cern no err ori n the di s tr i ctcourt ’ s thought ful reso luti o n o f th is case . B ec au se w e h av e n o thing to ad d to the d istri ct co u rt ’s re a so n in g , this c o u rt A F F I R MS fors ubs t ant i al l yt hos e r eas ons s etoutbyt he di s t r i ctcourti n i t s or derdat ed A pr i l 13, 2006. ENT ERE D FOR T HE COURT

M i chae l R . M urphy C i r cui tJ udge