Opinion ID: 895008
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Thirty-Day Extension

Text: The expert reports that must be filed under section 74.351(a) are meant to serve two purposes: (1) to inform the defendant of the specific conduct the claimant is questioning, and (2) to provide a basis for the trial court to conclude that the claims have merit. Am. Transitional Care Ctrs. of Tex., Inc. v. Palacios, 46 S.W.3d 873, 879 (Tex.2001). In order to sustain the suit, the report or reports must be authored by an expert, as defined by subsection (r)(5), and contain the expert's opinion with regard to the standard of care, the manner in which the health care provider failed to meet that standard, and the causal relationship between that failure and the plaintiff's injury. TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 74.351(r)(5)-(6). Each defendant whose conduct is implicated in a report may challenge its sufficiency and must do so within twenty-one days of the report being served. Id. § 74.351(a). If the court agrees that the challenged report is deficient, the court has the discretion on its own to grant one thirty-day extension to allow the plaintiff an opportunity to cure the deficiency. Id. § 74.351(c). If the court determines that the report is adequate, the defendant may challenge that ruling by interlocutory appeal. Id. § 51.014(a)(9); Lewis v. Funderburk, 253 S.W.3d 204, 207 (Tex.2008). In this case, the court of appeals found the Brandals' report deficient and, as has every court that has expressly addressed the issue, [3] remanded the case to the trial court to decide whether to grant the Brandals a thirty-day extension to cure the deficiency. 217 S.W.3d at 64-65. We agree with the court of appeals that section 74.351's plain language permits one thirty-day extension when the court of appeals finds deficient a report that the trial court considered adequate. Subsection 74.351(c), in relevant part, provides: (c) If an expert report has not been served within the period specified by Subsection (a) because elements of the report are found deficient, the court may grant one 30-day extension to the claimant in order to cure the deficiency. TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE § 74.351(c). As Leland and the dissent read the statute, a thirty-day extension is only permitted if the trial court determines that the report is deficient. We see nothing in the statute's text to support such an interpretation. Rather, the provision states that one thirty-day extension may be granted when elements of the report are found deficient, and does not confine that review to a particular court. Here, the court of appeals found deficient an element of one of the Brandals' two expert reports, exercising the power of review the Legislature granted in section 51.014(a). The statute does not allow for an extension unless, and until, elements of a report are found deficient, and that did not occur in this case until the court of appeals so held. Leland's interpretation would require us to read additional words into the statute, namely, elements of the report are found deficient by the trial court,  which we decline to do. See Lee v. City of Houston, 807 S.W.2d 290, 294-95 (Tex.1991) (explaining that a court may not judicially amend a statute by adding words). The sua sponte discretion vested in the court to grant a thirty-day extension is similarly broad, and the court of appeals did not err in exercising that discretion by remanding consideration of the extension issue to the trial court. Leland further argues that, because the Brandals already took the opportunity to supplement their reports in response to Leland's objections, the purpose of subsection (c) was met and the Brandals are not entitled to an additional extension. Again, we disagree. The plain language of subsection (c) provides for an extension to cure when elements of a report have been found deficient. TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 74.351(c). Section 74.351 does not state or imply that a plaintiff forfeits the possibility of obtaining a thirty-day extension to cure by timely responding to a defendant's specific objections before the court has an opportunity to rule on a defendant's motion to dismiss. In this case, the Brandals timely supplemented their reports and the trial court did not err in considering them. The dissent contends our interpretation of the statute is not warranted by its text, arguing first that section 74.351 does not discuss interlocutory appeals and section 51.014, which does, is located in a different code. However, the text of the statutes and the circumstances of their passage indicate otherwise: sections 51.014(9) and (10) explicitly reference section 74.351, and both statutes were passed at the same time as part of the same tort-reform bill. Act of June 2, 2003, 78th Leg., R.S., ch. 204, §§ 1.03, 10.01, 2003 Tex. Gen. Laws 847, 849, 875. Presumably, the Legislature was aware of this and intended the provisions to be interpreted together. See Acker v. Tex. Water Comm'n, 790 S.W.2d 299, 301 (Tex.1990) (A statute is presumed to have been enacted by the [L]egislature with complete knowledge of the existing law and with reference to it.). The dissent further contends our analysis alters the statutory structure by giving trial courts a third choice of deny[ing] the motion altogether, and then grant[ing] an extension years later if reversed on appeal. 257 S.W.3d at 210. But the options the dissent posits presuppose a report's inadequacy. According to the dissent's view, if the trial court considers a report to be adequate and is later judged to be wrong, the plaintiff has no recourse and is denied the opportunity to cure that the statute clearly contemplates. Finally, the dissent complains that our holding circumvents the statute's purpose by potentially affording a plaintiff two time-consuming appeals. It is true that one of the statutory purposes was to reduce excessive frequency and severity of health care liability claims, Act of June 2, 2003, 78th Leg., R.S., ch. 204, § 10.11(b)(1), 2003 Tex. Gen. Laws 847, 884, but the Legislature only sought to do so in a manner that will not unduly restrict a claimant's rights, Act of June 2, 2003, 78th Leg., R. S., ch. 204, § 10.11(b)(3), 2003 Tex. Gen. Laws 847, 884. In enacting section 74.351, the Legislature struck a careful balance between eradicating frivolous claims and preserving meritorious ones; the dissent would credit only one side of the equation, contrary to the statutory language.