Opinion ID: 1593590
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Dr. Ware's Status as a Professional Practicing in a Professional Corporation

Text: Section 10-4-390(a), Ala.Code 1975, provides: Every individual who renders professional services as an employee of a domestic or professional corporation shall be liable for any negligent or wrongful act or omission in which he personally participates to the same extent as if he rendered such services as a sole practitioner. At trial, Dr. Ware described himself as practicing medicine at Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine of Montgomery, P.C., a professional corporation. Timmons argues that because Dr. Ware participated in Brandi's surgery, he is vicariously liable under § 10-4-390, Ala.Code 1975, for Nurse Hayes's conduct to the same extent that he would have been had he supervised Nurse Hayes as a sole practitioner. Thus, Timmons argues, the statute  in abrogation of the common-law doctrine of respondeat superior  imposes on supervisors who are professionals practicing in a professional corporation vicarious liability for the conduct of their subordinates. In Weaver v. Hollis, 247 Ala. 57, 60, 22 So.2d 525, 528 (1945), this Court stated: The common law is the base upon which all of the laws of this State have been constructed, and when our courts are called upon to construe a statute,  when they are called upon to ascertain and declare the legal effect and meaning of a legislative enactment,  they must read the statute in the light of the common law. Accordingly, we presume that the legislature does not intend to make any alteration in the law beyond what it explicitly declares. Duncan v. Rudulph, 245 Ala. 175, 176, 16 So.2d 313, 314 (1944). Thus, for § 10-4-390(a), Ala.Code 1975, to impose vicarious liability on Dr. Ware as Nurse Hayes's supervisor, based on his status as a professional practicing in a professional corporation, the statute must convey its intention to do so either in express terms or by unmistakable implication. 245 Ala. at 176, 16 So.2d at 314. By its text, § 10-4-390(a), Ala.Code 1975, imposes on Dr. Ware direct liability only for his own negligence, wrongful acts, or omissions. It states that the professional shall be liable for any negligent or wrongful act or omission in which he personally participates. The commentary explains the statute as follows: Subsection (a) states explicitly that individual professionals remain liable for their own negligent or wrongful acts or omissions. Thus, the liability of a professional to his client or patient for his negligent or wrongful acts or omissions will be the same whether the professional is acting as an employee of a professional corporation or as a sole practitioner. Under § 10-4-390(a), Ala.Code 1975, Dr. Ware's status as a physician practicing in a professional corporation does not supply a basis for affirming the trial court's judgment on the basis that it did not err in instructing the jury that Dr. Ware is vicariously liable for Nurse Hayes's conduct.