Opinion ID: 1790021
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: pre-trial activity

Text: On October 10, 1985, Evelyn Hudson filed a Complaint in the Circuit Court of Webster County against Dr. Steve Parvin, Dr. D.G. Crawford, Drs. X, Y, and Z, Winston County Community Hospital, and XYZ Corporation alleging that the defendants were negligent in performing a tubal ligation procedure upon her in February of 1982 and that as a direct result thereof, she discovered that she was pregnant on October 26, 1983. She allegedly suffered medical, hospital, doctor and drug bills, loss of wages, severe pain and suffering, and mental damages in the aggregate amount of $500,000.00. Dr. Parvin filed a Separate Answer and Defenses denying most of the allegations in the Complaint, except that he admitted he performed a tubal ligation on Hudson, and asserting § 15-1-36, the statute of limitations applicable to medical malpractice actions, and § 11-1-59, which says that damages in a medical negligence action should not be specified, as affirmative defenses. On November 15, 1985, Dr. Parvin propounded a set of interrogatories to Hudson. On December 13, 1985, the court granted summary judgment as to Dr. Crawford in response to a motion which he had filed. The court found that Dr. Crawford was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. On April 4, 1986, Hudson answered the interrogatories which had been propounded by Dr. Parvin. Dr. Parvin filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on August 25, 1986. Attached to the Motion were an affidavit from Dr. Parvin, consent forms signed by Evelyn Hudson, copies of medical records, and an affidavit from Dr. Earl Stubblefield. On September 1, 1986, Hudson moved for additional time in which to respond to Dr. Parvin's Motion since her attorneys were busy with other cases and had not had time to prepare a response. On September 22, 1986, Hudson filed a Response denying the allegations in Parvin's Motion and stating that she would supplement her response with an affidavit from a medical expert to show that Parvin had not exercised the standard of care required of physicians under similar circumstances. Attached to the response was an affidavit from Hudson. Hudson's attorney, W. Howard Gunn, filed a Motion to Withdraw from representing Hudson on October 30, 1986. On November 4, 1986, the court allowed Gunn to withdraw and Laurel Weir and Thomas Booker to represent Hudson. That same day, Hudson filed a Counter Affidavit explaining that her present attorney had not had time to obtain counter-affidavits from medical doctors and surgeons but if given a reasonable period of time, would be able to do so. She asked the court to overrule Dr. Parvin's Motion for Summary Judgment and enter an order granting a continuance to allow her to obtain counter-affidavits. The court overruled Hudson's Motion. On November 6, 1986, Hudson moved to dismiss the remaining defendants. She asked the court to dismiss the cause with regard to Drs. X, Y, and Z, the Winston County Community Hospital, and the XYZ Corporation. The court ordered that the cause be dismissed without prejudice as to Drs. X, Y, and Z, the Winston County Community Hospital, and XYZ Corporation. On November 10, 1986, the court granted Dr. Parvin's Motion for Summary Judgment. Hudson filed a Notice of Appeal to this Court on November 13, 1986, from the judgments granting summary judgment for both Drs. Crawford and Parvin. Hudson v. Parvin, 511 So.2d 499 (Miss. 1987), was rendered by this Court on August 12, 1987. We affirmed the summary judgment as to Dr. Crawford since he did not participate in the tubal ligation surgery. However, the summary judgment granted in favor of Dr. Parvin was reversed. We felt that fairness dictated that Hudson should have been granted a continuance so that she would have had an opportunity to obtain affidavits from experts. Hudson's new attorney had little time to work towards procuring any affidavits. The case was remanded to the lower court to grant a continuance of limited duration. On October 13, 1987, Dr. Parvin moved for a continuance. He alleged that trial was set for October 31, 1987, without his consent or knowledge and that his counsel had a conflict on that date. He further alleged that Hudson's counsel had never designated an expert witness and since such expert is necessary for the plaintiff's case, he planned to bring the matter up in a Motion for Summary Judgment. That same day, he filed a Notice of Rehearing on Motion for Summary Judgment. Hudson responded on October 24, 1987, by filing an Answer to Motion for Summary Judgment. Attached to the Answer was an affidavit from Dr. Michael Todd. The hearing on the summary judgment motion was held on October 28, 1987. At the hearing, Hudson's counsel was asked if he had an expert and he named Dr. Todd as his expert. The court overruled the Motion for Summary Judgment. On October 29, 1987, Dr. Todd moved to have his affidavit withdrawn. He said that he had told Hudson's attorney, Laurel Weir, the morning of the day of the summary judgment hearing that he wanted to withdraw his affidavit and Weir agreed to withdraw it. Since Dr. Todd did not believe that Weir had withdrawn it, he asked the court to do so. Weir also filed a Motion asking the court to withdraw Dr. Todd's affidavit. He explained that he had talked to Dr. Todd and there was some doubt as to whether Dr. Todd desired the affidavit be withdrawn. Since Weir was not sure at what point in time Dr. Todd desired to withdraw his affidavit, Weir went ahead and used it because he owed a duty to his client to represent her properly. On January 8, 1988, Hudson filed an affidavit from Dr. A.P. Soriano in opposition to the summary judgment motion. In the affidavit, Dr. Soriano stated his belief that Dr. Parvin was negligent in performing the surgery and that his performance was below the standard of care required of doctors in Mississippi. Hudson desired to amend her complaint. On October 28, 1987, she asked for permission to file an amendment. Hudson filed two amendments to the Complaint on January 9, 1988. The first amendment alleged that Dr. Parvin had guaranteed that the surgery would prevent Hudson from ever becoming pregnant again and she relied on that promise. However, because of Dr. Parvin's negligence, she discovered on October 26, 1983, that she was pregnant. She again became pregnant in 1985. The second amendment alleged that Dr. Parvin negligently failed to inform Hudson of all the details of the surgery, the possibilities of success, and the risks involved. If she had known the facts, she would not have had the surgery. By order dated April 8, 1988, the court allowed Hudson's complaint to be amended to include the two additional claims. Dr. Parvin answered the Amended Complaint on April 12, 1988. He denied the allegations and again asserted as affirmative defenses Sections 15-1-36 and 11-1-59 of the Mississippi Code. Hudson filed an Answer on April 14, 1988, denying the affirmative defenses and asking to amend her complaint by stating that the amount of the lawsuit is for more than $10,000.00, in conformance with § 11-1-59. On April 13, 1988, the court allowed Dr. Parvin to withdraw his Motion for Summary Judgment since Hudson had retained an expert witness. On April 25, 1988, Hudson updated her responses to interrogatories. Trial was conducted on April 27, 1988. Before the trial began, the defendant made a number of motions. One of those was a motion to prohibit expert testimony by the experts who were named in the supplemented answers to interrogatories which Dr. Parvin had received only the day before trial. Dr. Parvin's counsel said that although she had received the affidavit from Dr. Soriano in response to the Motion for Summary Judgment, he had never been listed as an expert. The other expert named in the supplemented interrogatories, Dr. Joshi, was not known to the defendant until the day before trial. Hudson's counsel responded by saying that Dr. Parvin's attorney had known for months that Dr. Soriano would be called as an expert. The court ruled that Dr. Soriano could testify only to the extent indicated in the original responses. In those, Hudson named Dr. Soriano as an expert and said that he would testify as to my [Hudson's] pregnancy following tubaligation [sic]. He could not testify as to the standard of care. The court said that although the defendant's counsel admitted that she was aware that Dr. Soriano would be called as an expert as of the date she received Dr. Soriano's affidavit, the failure to supplement the interrogatories naming Dr. Soriano as an expert until the day before trial precluded the use of Dr. Soriano. The court also ruled that Dr. Joshi would not be allowed to testify. Because the court so ruled, Hudson was the only witness to testify in her behalf. At the close of her testimony, the plaintiff rested. The defendant moved for a directed verdict. On May 4, 1988, the court rendered its Final Judgment allowing a directed verdict on the plaintiff's claim that Dr. Parvin guaranteed the results of the surgery because that claim was barred by the statute of limitations. The court also granted a directed verdict on all other claims. Hudson appeals, assigning three errors.