Case Name: John CONLEY v. Edward WARREN, M.D.
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 2001-02-15
Citations: 797 So. 2d 881
Docket Number: No. 98-CA-00507-SCT
Parties: John CONLEY v. Edward WARREN, M.D.
Judges: PITTMAN, C.J., BANKS, P.J., SMITH, WALLER, COBB, DIAZ and EASLEY, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 797
Pages: 881–888

Head Matter:
John CONLEY v. Edward WARREN, M.D.
No. 98-CA-00507-SCT.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Feb. 15, 2001.
Michael T. Lewis, Hollaman Martin Ra-ney, Clarksdale, for Appellant.
Stephen P. Kruger, Jan F. Gadow, Ridgeland, for Appellee.

Opinion:
MILLS, Justice,
for the Court:
¶ 1. John Conley filed this negligence suit against Dr. Edward Warren for injuries allegedly resulting from surgery to repair Conley's thoracic aorta. The trial court granted Warren's summary judgment motion and held that the physician, employed by the University of Mississippi Medical Center, was immune under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act, (MTCA), Miss.Code Ann. § 11-46-1 to -23 (Supp. 2000). Aggrieved by the trial court's decision, Conley appeals to this Court.
FACTS
¶ 2. On May 30, 1993, John Conley was injured in an automobile accident and transported to the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The day after Conley's accident, Dr. Edward Warren, a cardiovascular surgeon on staff, performed an operation to repair Conley's thoracic aorta. Conley alleges that after the accident but prior to the May 31 surgery, he could move his legs. After the surgery he was paralyzed from the waist down. He filed suit against Warren on May 28, 1995, in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County asserting that Warren was negligent in performing the surgery.
¶ 3. Warren was an associate professor at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. He designated Dr. Richard Miller, Associate Dean at the university, to testify as to the terms of Warren's employment contract with the Board of Trustees of the State Institutions of Higher Learning. Under the terms of this contract, Warren earned a base salary and was permitted to collect fees to a certain amount beyond that salary before being required to split fees with the hospital.
¶ 4. According to Miller, Warren was the chief surgeon attending Conley's operation but was simultaneously acting as an associate professor teaching the resident who was present. As the attending physician for Conley's operation, Warren made all of the decisions as to procedure and technique.
¶ 5. Warren filed a motion for summary judgment on the grounds that Conley had failed to comply with the notice provisions of Miss.Code Ann. § 11-46-11. Warren also asserted that the statute of limitations had run since Conley filed the lawsuit in excess of one year after the claim had accrued. The trial court held that Warren's contract with UMC established him as a state employee, not an independent contractor, and that he was, therefore, immune under the Tort Claims Act. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Warren. Aggrieved by the trial court's decision, Conley timely perfected this appeal.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶ 6. A grant of summary judgment is reviewed de novo. Gross v. Chevrolet Country, Inc., 655 So.2d 873, 877 (Miss.1995). The evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Turner v. Johnson, 498 So.2d 389, 390 (Miss.1986). If any triable issues of fact exist, the trial court's grant of a summary judgment will be reversed; otherwise the decision will be affirmed. Brown v. Credit Ctr., Inc., 444 So.2d 358, 362 (Miss.1983).
ANALYSIS
I. WHETHER DR. WARREN WAS AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR UNDER CONTRACT TO THE STATE WITHIN THE MEANING OF MISS. CODE ANN. § ll-46-l(f).
¶7. The trial court granted summary judgment on February 19, 1998. Since that time we have decided Miller v. Meeks, 762 So.2d 302 (Miss.2000), and Smith v. Braden, 765 So.2d 546 (Miss.2000). Both cases deal with the same situation presented here. "The specific issue to be determined [in Miller was] whether faculty physicians of UMMC who engage in clinical outpatient practice under the general auspices of the University, for which they are compensated, are state employees acting within the course and scope of their employment for purposes of the MTCA." Miller, 762 So.2d at 309.
¶ 8. Finding that "the traditional scope of employment analysis fails to provide sufficient guidance to the bench and bar on this issue," we looked to our sister state, Virginia, for guidance. Id. at 310. In James v. Jane, 221 Va. 43, 282 S.E.2d 864 (1980), the Virginia Supreme Court examined the issue of whether faculty physicians employed by the University of Virginia Medical Center were protected by sovereign immunity for acts of simple negligence. The court developed a four-part test to determine the status of these hybrid physicians. The following criteria were established:
1. the nature of the function performed by the employee;
2. the extent of the state's interest and involvement in the function;
3. the degree of control and direction exercised by the state over the employee; and
4. whether the act complained of involved the use of judgment and discretion.
¶ 9. In adopting this Virginia test in Miller, we found the need to add one other criterion to the list. We held that the means of compensation should be considered as well. Miller, 762 So.2d at 310. Therefore, the test adopted in Miller and subsequently applied in Smith and now here is to weigh the following factors:
1. the nature of the function performed by the employee;
2. the extent of the state's interest and involvement in the function;
3. the degree of control and direction exercised by the state over the employee;
4. whether the act complained of involved the use of judgment and discretion; and
5. whether the physician receives compensation, either directly or indirectly, from the patient for professional services rendered.
¶ 10. A full and meaningful application of these factors is currently not possible on the record before us. The trial court is in a better position to adequately examine the facts and issues of this case since it is not limited by the underdeveloped record which is before this Court. Therefore, we remand and instruct the trial court to weigh the factors.
¶ 11. If Warren acted as an independent contractor in the treatment of his patient, Conley, he is not entitled to the protection of the Tort Claims Act inasmuch as Miss.Code Ann. § 11—46—1(f) explicitly excludes independent contractors from its provisions. Owens v. Thomae, 759 So.2d 1117, 1122 (Miss.1999). One who engages an independent contractor is not responsible for torts committed by the contractor. See, e.g., Branning v. Hinds Community College Disk, 743 So.2d 311, 318 (Miss.1999); Richardson v. APACMiss., Inc., 631 So.2d 143, 149 (Miss.1994); Blackmon v. Payne, 510 So.2d 483, 488 (Miss.1987).
II. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT PROPERLY DETERMINED THAT THERE WAS NO GENUINE ISSUE OF MATERIAL FACT REGARDING WHETHER DR. WARREN WAS SERVING IN A DUAL CAPACITY IN THE OPERATING ROOM — ONE AS A TEACHER AND ONE AS AN ATTENDING PHYSICIAN.
¶ 12. Conley asserts that Warren acted in a dual capacity and was in the operating room as both an attending physician and an instructor. We cannot say that there are no genuine issues of material fact regarding whether Warren was acting as a UMMC professor or in the capacity of a private doctor engaged in private practice when he treated Conley. The trial court's application of the above five-part test will determine the role Warren played during Conley's surgery.
III. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN FAVOR OF DR. WARREN BASED ON THE TORT CLAIMS ACT.
¶ 13. The trial court erroneously granted Warren's summary judgment motion. Under the Miller test, triable issues of fact may exist. "[T]he summary judgment procedure . cannot be used to deprive a litigant of a full trial of genuine fact issues." Miss.R.Civ.P. 56 cmt.
CONCLUSION
¶ 14. For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the trial court's grant of Dr. Warren's summary judgment motion and remand this case to the Hinds County Circuit Court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
¶ 15. REVERSED AND REMANDED.
PITTMAN, C.J., BANKS, P.J., SMITH, WALLER, COBB, DIAZ and EASLEY, JJ., concur.
McRAE, P.J., concurs in part and dissents in part with separate written opinion.