Opinion ID: 852125
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: As a Preliminary Question of Law

Text: In the alternative, the Gordons contend the trial court could hear their request for summary judgment as a preliminary determination of an affirmative defense or issue of law or fact. Ind.Code § 34-18-11-1 (2008). The Medical Malpractice Act generally requires that actions for medical negligence against health care providers must first be submitted to, and an opinion given by, a medical review panel before commencing an action in court. Ind.Code § 34-18-8-4. A trial court's authority to rule on preliminary matters is to be narrowly construed. Griffith v. Jones, 602 N.E.2d 107 (Ind.1992). The Gordons' motion for partial summary judgment sought a finding of liability against the Hospital for the count alleging spoliation. As we have declined to recognize that count as representing a separate cause of action, the Hospital was entitled to summary judgment on that claim and the trial court must be reversed as respects that count. Whether the Gordons are entitled to any sanctions against the Hospital for the loss of records in question is an intensively fact-sensitive inquiry. In the current state of the proceeding, relatively little is known of record about the role of the missing evidence as respects the claims against the various defendants, how and when and by whom the records went missing, the nature and availability of other evidence that may bear on the Gordons' malpractice claims, and so on. In the course of further proceedings before the medical review panel and the trial court thereafter, a good deal more is likely to be learned about these facts and about whether a litigation sanction against the Hospital is warranted.