Opinion ID: 2978734
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Conversation with Dr. Breeding

Text: The District Court primarily relied on the October 20, 2005, conversation with Dr. Breeding. Whether that conversation should have enabled Elam to discover Dr. Menzies’ potential malpractice is disputed. We note at the outset that while there is nothing in the record demonstrating that Elam was impaired during this conversation, 2 There had been some confusion as to when Elam first visited his lawyer, but Elam has since presented evidence that he first consulted an attorney in late 2006, well within the statutory period. 3 When asked if, “[b]efore he started the stent process, did Dr. Menzies speak with you about an option of bypass surgery,” Elam replied, “[h]e said if it couldn’t be stented, it would result in bypass surgery.” (Elam. Dep. 68.) No. 09-5360 Elam v. Menzies Page 6 the setting – with the patient still lying on the gurney immediately following local anesthesia and a cardiac catheterization – was certainly less than an ideal setting for the brain to fully comprehend important medical and legal information. Elam’s recollection of the conversation with Dr. Breeding contains statements from which a reasonable juror could find that Elam should have discovered Dr. Menzies’ potential malpractice. Elam stated, “I just remember that he told me that some stents were placed in a place that shouldn’t [sic] have been placed. And that was the result, that I was going to have open heart surgery.” When asked if he understood Dr. Breeding “to be critical of what Dr. Menzies had done with the stents,” Elam responded, “He seemed to be, a little bit. . . . But he didn’t throw nobody under the bus whatsoever.” (Elam Dep. 104-06.) On the other hand, Elam’s recollection also contains several statements from which a juror could find that Elam should not have discovered Dr. Menzies’ potential malpractice because he reasonably believed that he needed open heart surgery because the stents had become obstructed by blockage through no fault of Dr. Menzies. Asked if he had formed a belief that his problems “were related to something that Dr. Menzies had done,” Elam replied: “No, I didn’t form a belief at all. My wife and I talked to it in detail, you know, about that I could have had more blockage. And we didn’t have a clue, you know, what was going on.” When asked to clarify if he understood the stents to be in the wrong place, Elam replied, “Well, he said they were placed – I can’t – the main artery comes down, and then he said when you’ve got two vessels going together, that you can’t place two stents together, some way or another. He used medical terms, and I didn’t understand all the medical terms or whatever, you know.” When asked directly if he suspected that Dr. Menzies “may have done something wrong” in caring for him, Elam responded, “I didn’t never suspect. I told you that I thought the world of Dr. Menzies.” (Elam. Dep. 106-08.) The recollections of two eyewitnesses to the conversation – Elam’s wife and son – further compound the dispute. Elam’s son, Wesley, stated, “I’m wanting to say that he said that the stent was placed in the wrong place to start with, that was what would No. 09-5360 Elam v. Menzies Page 7 cause this blockage to occur.” (Wesley Elam Dep. 18-19.) Elam’s wife, Randi, on the other hand, was not sure if Dr. Breeding was “saying that the stents were contributing to the problem or taking, had not taken care of the problem.” (Randi Elam Dep. 49.) Dr. Menzies’ counsel elected not to depose Dr. Breeding, so we do not have the benefit of his recollection of the conversation.4 While either party could have taken this deposition, it was particularly incumbent upon Dr. Menzies – as the party asserting the defense – to do so. The absence of this crucial testimony raises an inference that Dr. Breeding’s testimony would have been harmful to Dr. Menzies. Some precedent exists suggesting that no adverse inference may be drawn from the failure to depose a witness who was equally available to both parties. See, e.g., Whitcomb v. Whitcomb, 267 S.W.2d 400, 402 (Ky. 1954). But a witness is not considered “equally available” if, as in this case, the witness has special knowledge of relevant facts for the party with the burden of proof. See Welch v. L.R. Cooke Chevrolet Co., 236 S.W.2d 690, 691-92 (Ky. 1950) (presumption adverse to party with burden of proof when neither party produced exemployee who was only witness to fire); see also Kostelec v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., 64 F.3d 1220, 1229 (8th Cir. 1995) (noting that federal courts have softened the definition of “equal availability”). Furthermore, “the more logical view is that the failure to produce is open to an inference against both parties, the particular strength of the inference against each depending on the circumstances.” 2 J. Wigmore, Evidence 206-08 (J. Chadbourn ed., 1979) (emphasis in original) (cited favorably in dicta in Tyler v. White, 811 F.2d 1204, 1207 (8th Cir. 1987)). Because we must draw all inferences in favor of Elam, and because Dr. Menzies has the burden of proof to show that Dr. Breeding’s comments triggered the discovery rule, we may draw an inference that Dr. Breeding’s testimony would have been adverse to Dr. Menzies. See also Welsh v. U.S., 844 F.2d 1239, 1245 (6th Cir. 1988), overruled on other grounds by Adkins v. Wolever, 554 F.3d 650 (6th Cir. 2009) (recognizing that the “drawing of inferences adverse to the defendant based on 4 At oral argument, we inquired whether Dr. Menzies’ counsel could have deposed Dr. Breeding as a fact witness, and he responded, “That’s correct . . . but I didn’t have any reason to take his deposition.” No. 09-5360 Elam v. Menzies Page 8 defendant’s failure to produce evidence that was within its control finds general support in Kentucky case law”); 2 McCormick On Evidence § 264 (6th ed.) (“When it would be natural under the circumstances for a party to call a particular witness . . . and the party fails to do so, tradition has allowed the adversary to use this failure as the basis for invoking an adverse inference.”). Neither of the two cases most extensively briefed by the parties is particularly helpful in determining when a factual dispute is significant enough to bar summary judgment in Kentucky. In Wiseman, supra, relied on by Elam, the court found the plaintiff’s claim against a doctor who left a surgical instrument inside of her was not time barred. In that case, however, the patient’s doctors misdiagnosed her pain as the result of a broken tail bone, delaying her discovery of the instrument. 37 S.W.3d at 710. There was no disputed conversation in Wiseman analogous to the one that took place between Elam and Dr. Breeding. In Vannoy v. Milum, 171 S.W.3d 745 (Ky. Ct. App. 2005), relied on by Dr. Menzies and the District Court, it was undisputed that the patient was aware that the source of his injury was related to his antibiotic therapy. 171 S.W.3d at 747-50. Hence, Vannoy is not instructive when, as in the present case, it is disputed when the patient became aware that he had an injury. A recent, unpublished decision from the Court of Appeals of Kentucky is much more informative as to how a Kentucky court conducts discovery rule analysis at the summary judgment phase.5 In Van Landingham v. Georgia Pacific Corp., No. 2007CA-002601-MR, 2009 WL 2475258 (Ky. Ct. App. Aug. 14, 2009), a subcontractor filed suit against his former employer after discovering benign plaques caused by asbestos on his lungs. The defendant argued that the statute of limitations barred the suit. There was significant evidence in the record that the plaintiff knew his plaques had been caused by asbestos more a than a year before he filed suit when, during a coronary artery bypass graft, the plaintiff’s surgeon noticed the plaques. Not only did the surgeon testify that 5 In Kentucky, while unpublished opinions cannot be cited as binding precedent, unpublished appellate decisions decided after 2003 “may be cited for consideration by the court if there is no published opinion that would adequately address the issue before the court.” Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure 76.28(4). We cite the case for its persuasive value in predicting how a Kentucky court would decide this issue. No. 09-5360 Elam v. Menzies Page 9 it was normal practice for him to tell patients that such plaques were likely caused by asbestos, but his primary physician found a notation in his records questioning whether asbestosis had been found during the heart surgery. The primary physician testified that he would not have made such a notation had it not been provided by the surgeon or the plaintiff. Notwithstanding, the court found that a factual dispute existed as to what the subcontractor knew at the time the plaques were removed and what exactly his doctors told him. The court emphasized that it was “required to resolve all factual inferences” in favor of the subcontractor and that the record did not “definitively show” that the plaintiff knew of his injury. The court reversed summary judgment and found the dispute proper to send to a jury. Id. at . The defendant in Van Landingham presented far more evidence that the plaintiff should have known of his injury than Dr. Menzies has proffered here. Furthermore, the defendant in Van Landingham lacked any testimony – like that of Elam’s wife – to corroborate his description of his state of mind, and his defense was not missing the deposition of a key witness. Hence, while not binding, Van Landingham reinforces our confidence that a Kentucky court would find a factual dispute as to when Elam discovered his injury. The driving force of our decision is the summary judgment standard, which requires us to draw all reasonable inferences in favor of Elam. Taking into account the reasonable inferences that Elam believed he needed open heart surgery because the stents had become obstructed, the conflicting testimony of Elam’s son and wife, and the absence of Dr. Breeding’s testimony, we find the record sufficient to call into question whether Elam should have known he had a claim against Dr. Menzies. Therefore, the application of the discovery rule turns on a factual dispute, and it is proper to submit the question to a jury. No. 09-5360 Elam v. Menzies Page 10