Opinion ID: 1758559
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Applicability of Section 13.01(g)

Text: At the outset, we must decide whether section 13.01(g) may be used to cure a timely but inadequate expert report. Although the parties apparently agree that it can, we have never addressed the issue. The courts of appeals that have discussed the issueincluding the court of appeals in this casehave uniformly held or implicitly recognized that the section 13.01(g) grace period applies to inadequate but timely reports. Hernandez v. Piziak, No. 03-02-00544-CV, 2003 WL 248329, , 2003 Tex.App. LEXIS 1076, - (Tex.App.-Austin Feb. 6, 2003, pet. filed) (memorandum opinion); Daniel v. Beck, No. 12-01-00328-CV, 2002 WL 31323498, , 2002 Tex.App. LEXIS 7485, - (Tex.App.-Tyler Oct.9, 2002, no pet.) (not designated for publication); In re Morris, 93 S.W.3d 388, 391 (Tex.App.-Amarillo 2002, orig. proceeding); Whitworth v. Blumenthal, 59 S.W.3d 393, 400 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2001, pet. dism'd by agr.); Hightower v. Saxton, 54 S.W.3d 380, 385 (Tex.App.-Waco 2001, no pet.); Richburg v. Wolf, 48 S.W.3d 375, 378-79 (Tex.App.-Eastland 2001, no pet.); DeLeon v. Vela, 70 S.W.3d 194, 200-01 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 2001, pet. denied); Rittmer v. Garza, 65 S.W.3d 718, 724 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2001, no pet.); In re Collom & Carney Clinic Ass'n, 62 S.W.3d 924, 930 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2001, orig. proceeding); Gutierrez v. Walker, 50 S.W.3d 61, 65-66 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 2001, pet. granted). We agree that the section 13.01(g) grace period applies to inadequate but timely filed reports. Section 13.01(g) provides: Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, if a claimant has failed to comply with a deadline established by Subsection (d) of this section and after hearing the court finds that the failure of the claimant or the claimant's attorney was not intentional or the result of conscious indifference but was the result of an accident or mistake, the court shall grant a grace period of 30 days to permit the claimant to comply with that subsection. A motion by a claimant for relief under this subsection shall be considered timely if it is filed before any hearing on a motion by a defendant under Subsection (e) of this section. Tex.Rev.Civ. Stat. art. 4590i, § 13.01(g). Subsection (d) requires the claimant to file an expert report [n]ot later than the later of the 180th day after the date on which a health care liability claim is filed or the last day of any extended period established under Subsection (f) or (h) of this section. Id. § 13.01(d). If a party fails to file any expert report at all, it has failed to comply with a deadline established by Subsection (d) and would be entitled to seek the section 13.01(g) grace period. We see no logical basis, therefore, for denying the same opportunity to a party who has filed a report that does not satisfy the statutory requirements. Such a party has also failed to comply with a subsection (d) deadline because, as we recognized in American Transitional Care Centers of Texas, Inc. v. Palacios, 46 S.W.3d 873, 877 (Tex.2001), an expert report that is not a good faith effort to comply with the statutory requirements will not save the case from dismissal. See also Shaw v. BMW Healthcare, Inc., 100 S.W.3d 8, 17 (Tex.App.-Tyler 2002, pet. denied) (noting that, under Palacios, there is no distinction between a motion to dismiss under subsection (e) (failure to file any report) and subsection ( l ) (failure to file an adequate report) because the sanction in both cases is dismissal). Moreover, failure to make the grace period available to parties who have timely filed inadequate reports would provide a perverse incentive by rewarding parties who do nothing and punishing those who attempt to comply with the statute but fail. We do not believe the Legislature intended such a result. The statutory text supports this conclusion. Subsection (e) provides that, if a claimant fails to comply with Subsection (d), the court must dismiss the case. Tex.Rev.Civ. Stat. art. 4590i, § 13.01(e). Thus, if a claimant files an inadequate expert report, subsection (e) requires dismissal of the case. If a claimant's inadequate report constitutes a failure to comply with subsection (d), then that same action should be deemed a fail[ure] to comply with a deadline established by Subsection (d), entitling the claimant to seek a grace period under section 13.01(g). See Whitworth, 59 S.W.3d at 409(Morris, J., concurring). Thus, we hold that a party who files a timely but inadequate expert report may seek relief under the grace period provisions of section 13.01(g).