Court Opinion

ID: 9745634
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 23:14:39.650932+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:03.532680
License: Public Domain

SIMS, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
Plaintiff Bushling went into the defendant hospital for an operation on his abdomen.
The morning after the operation, while plaintiff was in the hospital, he experienced pain in his shoulder.
Although he has undergone several surgeries on his shoulder, plaintiff has lost the use of his shoulder through nerve damage and is totally disabled.
In moving for summary judgment, the defendants declared that they did nothing wrong. Dr. Weber, who performed subsequent surgery on plaintiff’s shoulder, declared that, in his opinion, plaintiff’s injury had an “unknown cause.”
*513In response to this showing by the defendants, plaintiff filed the declarations of two physicians. One of them, Ronald Katz, M.D. was the former chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at both the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Southern California (USC) Schools of Medicine. At the time of his declaration, he was professor of anesthesiology at both UCLA and USC. Both of plaintiff’s experts reviewed all medical records and Dr. Weber’s deposition and testified that, to a probability, the kind of injury suffered by plaintiff could not have occurred in the absence of negligence.
The expert testimony set forth in plaintiff’s declarations created a triable issue of fact. The trial court erroneously struck these declarations and the majority compound that error. This case should have gone to a jury.
I respectfully dissent.
At the outset, I note that the majority frame the issues on summary judgment by referring frequently to Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826 [107 Cal.Rptr.2d 841, 24 P.3d 493] (Aguilar). They do so in part for the proposition that Aguilar concluded amendments to the summary judgment statute were designed to liberalize the granting of summary judgment motions.
In my view, Aguilar, supra, 25 Cal.4th 826, has nothing to do with the central issue in this case: whether plaintiff’s expert declarations should have been considered as reliable evidence. The way in which Aguilar liberalized the granting of summary judgment motions was that, for the first time, a defendant could obtain summary judgment by demonstrating that the plaintiff had no evidence by which to prove his case. That is not at issue in this case.
Aguilar, supra, 25 Cal.4th 826, did nothing to change the following rules for the adjudication of a summary judgment motion (which the majority fail to acknowledge) as set forth by the California Supreme Court in Molko v. Holy Spirit Assn. (1988) 46 Cal.3d 1092 at page 1107 [252 Cal.Rptr. 122, 762 P.2d 46]: “Summary judgment is a drastic measure that deprives the losing party of a trial on the merits. [Citations.] It should therefore be used with caution, so that it does not become a substitute for trial. [Citations.] The affidavits of the moving party should be strictly construed, and those of the opponent liberally construed. [Citations.] Any doubts as to the propriety of granting the motion should be resolved in favor of the party opposing the motion. [Citations.]”
These procedural rules for the review and granting of a motion for summary judgment are designed to preserve the constitutionality of the *514summary judgment procedure. As the court recently explained in Bahl v. Bank of America (2001) 89 Cal.App.4th 389 at page 395: “ ‘Though often said, it appears necessary to again reiterate that a summary judgment is a drastic measure which deprives the losing party of trial on the merits.’ (Bunzel v. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (1980) 107 Cal.App.3d 165, 169 [165 Cal.Rptr. 433]; see also Rincon v. Burbank Unified School Dist. (1986) 178 Cal.App.3d 949, 952 [224 Cal.Rptr. 88].) The right to a jury trial, embodied in article I, section 16 of the California Constitution, is at stake. (See Troutman, The Jury Trial (1977) 51 Fla. B.J. 331, 332 [cautioning against too liberal summary judgment as an ‘abandonment of the hard-fought principles of our forefathers who believed that no amount of economy and efficiency is adequate consideration for a fair and impartial jury’ trial].) Some cases refer to the constitutional rights argument as being a creature of ‘older decisions,’ because the summary judgment statute (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c) has been held constitutional. (See, e.g., Scheiding v. Dinwiddie Construction Co. (1999) 69 Cal.App.4th 64, 70 [81 Cal.Rptr.2d 360].) We agree there is ‘nothing in the summary judgment procedure [that] is inherently unconstitutional. [Citations.]’ (Ibid.) But technical compliance with the procedures of Code of Civil Procedure section 437c is required to ensure there is no infringement of a litigant’s hallowed right to have a dispute settled by a jury of his or her peers.”
With these ground rules in mind, let us turn to the crux of this case: whether the trial court and the majority have erred by striking the declarations of plaintiff’s experts. These declarations are nearly identical, so I will set forth verbatim the declaration of Dr. Katz, as follows:
“I RONALD KATZ M.D., declare:
“1.1 am a licensed physician in the State of California and have been practicing anesthesiology for 42 years and I am board certified. I was a professor of anesthesiology and chairmen [sic] of the department at UCLA from 1973 to 1990 and professor from 1990 to 1995.1 was chairmen [sic] of the department and professor of anesthesiology at USC from 1995-2000. I am now professor of anesthesiology at USC and UCLA.
“2. I have reviewed the medical records of Kevin Bushling from Dr [sic] Rosson, Fremont Medical center [sic], Sutter North, Dr [sic] Weber, Dr [sic] Vallier , [sic] and all surgical Reports and the deposition of Dr [sic] Weber. I am familiar with the laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed on Mr [sic] Bushling and the injury, Supra Scapula nerve palsy injury that he suffered and the standard of care for anesthesiologists [sic] surgeons and hospital staff during and post surgery. It is the duty of the anesthesiologist, as well as the surgeon and hospital staff to safe guard [sic] the patient from traumatic and positioning injuries during surgery and post surgery.
*515“3. I am of the opinion that his injury that [szc] Mr. Bushling’s condition occurred more probably than not from either a traumatic injury such as dropping the patient or from improper positioning of the patient or stretching of the extremity and but for the negligence of one of his care providers this injury would not have occurred.
“Further discovery such depositions [sz'c] of the doctor defendants and hospital staff will be necessary to Pinpoint whose negligence is responsible for this injury and who fell below the standard of care. Dr [szc] Weber is incorrect because there is a wealth of literature describing just such injuries from improper positioning and trauma during surgery.
“I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct and within my personal knowledge. If called as a witness, I can competently testify to the facts and opinions stated herein. Executed on March 27, 2002 at Los Angeles California.
“Ronald Katz M.D. Dr [szc] RONALD KATZ M.D.”
There is something that must be said about this declaration at the outset. It is full of syntactical and grammatical errors. It is the result of sloppy drafting. Its manifest errors create the impression that this is a junk case. However, at oral argument, I asked plaintiff’s attorney why the lawyering was so awful. He explained that, at the time of the summary judgment motion, he was undergoing chemotherapy treatment and was extraordinarily debilitated. Indeed, he tried to find another lawyer to take the case for the purpose of opposing the summary judgment motion but was unable to do so. He explained that his opposition to the motion was the best that he could do in the circumstances. I accept this explanation. We must look past the grammatical and syntactical errors in the declaration to examine its substance.
In striking the declaration as conclusory, the trial court relied on Kelley v. Trunk (1998) 66 Cal.App.4th 519 [78 Cal.Rptr.2d 122], a decision of Division Seven of the Second District. There, a physician obtained summary judgment in a medical malpractice case based upon a declaration that simply set out the credentials of an expert, recited the history of treatment as set forth in medical reports, and then concluded conclusorily, “At all times . . . Trunk acted appropriately and within the standard of care under the circumstances presented.” (Id. at p. 522.) The Court of Appeal found the skeletal declaration insufficient to support summary judgment.
Kelley v. Trunk, supra, 66 Cal.App.4th 519, was criticized by Division One of the Second District in Hanson v. Grode (1999) 76 Cal.App.4th 601 [90 Cal.Rptr.2d 396], where the court said, “The recent case of Kelley v. Trunk . . . *516suggests that even on summary judgment, an expert’s declaration must set forth in excruciating detail the factual basis for the opinion stated therein. We find this approach, under which all of the expert declarations in this case would have to be deemed inadequate, to be unsupported. Accordingly, we decline to utilize it.” (Hanson v. Grode, supra, 16 Cal.App.4th at p. 608, fn. 6.)
But whatever may be said of Kelley v. Trunk, supra, 66 Cal.App.4th 519, it is distinguishable from this case in two important respects. First, the declaration at issue in Kelley v. Trunk was used to obtain summary judgment, whereas the declarations in the instant case were used to oppose summary judgment. Consequently, according to the rule of Molko v. Holy Spirit Assn., supra, 46 Cal.3d 1092, the declaration in Kelley v. Trunk was to be construed strictly whereas the declarations submitted by plaintiff in the instant case, in opposition to the motion, are to be construed liberally. (Molko v. Holy Spirit Assn., supra, 46 Cal.3d at p. 1107.)
A second distinction between this case and Kelley v. Trunk, supra, 66 Cal.App.4th 519, is that the instant declarations provide enormously more detail tiran that found in Kelley v. Trunk. Thus, for example, in this case, Dr. Katz declared that he had “reviewed [plaintiff’s] medical records, ... all surgical Reports, and the deposition of [Dr. Weber].” He declared further that he was familiar with the surgical procedure performed on plaintiff and with the injury plaintiff suffered. He recounted that the literature did not support Dr. Weber’s opinion. And, perhaps most importantly, he ventured an opinion with respect to the specific causes of the injury that occurred to plaintiff, namely, from a traumatic injury such as dropping the patient or from improper positioning of the patient or stretching of the extremity.
In evaluating this declaration, we do not have to set aside our common sense so as to forget that the damage to plaintiff’s shoulder first manifested itself on the morning following his abdominal surgery when plaintiff was in the hospital. Thus, when defendants’ expert, Dr. Weber, opines that (paraphrasing) “these things just happen,” it may be the case that “these things just happen” but the thing that happened to plaintiff just happened to happen when plaintiff was in the hospital for abdominal surgery. This is, of course, a wholly remarkable coincidence.
In evaluating the adequacy of plaintiff’s expert declarations, I think we should follow the rule of Sanchez v. Hillerich & Bradsby Co. (2002) 104 Cal.App.4th 703 at page 708 [128 Cal.Rptr.2d 529], where, the court, citing Kelley v. Trunk, supra, 66 Cal.App.4th 519, said, “It is sufficient, if an expert declaration establishes the matters relied upon in expressing the opinion, that the opinion rests on matters of a type reasonably relied upon, and the bases *517for the opinion. [Citation to Kelley v. Trunk.] (Sanchez v. Hillerich & Bradsby Co., supra, 104 Cal.App.4th at p. 718.)
Here, Dr. Katz’s declaration declared that he had vast experience at both UCLA and USC medical schools, that he had reviewed all medical records and the declaration of Dr. Weber, that he was familiar with the surgical procedure at issue, that he was familiar with the injury sustained, and that, in his experience, this injury would not have occurred absent negligence. He listed various possible causes of the injury. Plaintiff’s other expert, Dr. Mar, declared nearly the same thing. In my view, and particularly given the rule of law that requires us to construe these declarations liberally, the declarations of plaintiff’s experts plainly contained opinions “reasonably relied upon.” They should have been considered on the motion for summary judgment and should have created a triable issue of fact sufficient to defeat summary judgment.
In deciding whether plaintiff’s expert declarations should count, we should keep another thing in mind. The cost of litigation these days is nearly prohibitive for most civil cases. The majority’s rule will require a full-blown trial of expert views on motions for summary judgment. This will further increase the costs of litigation and will make it harder to settle cases. It will also require trial and appellate judges to wade through more reams of paper. This is all bad.
The declarations of plaintiff’s experts established a case of negligence premised on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. The elements of that cause of action are: (1) the accident was of a kind that ordinarily does not occur in the absence of negligence; (2) the accident was caused by an instrumentality within the defendant’s exclusive control; and (3) was not due to any action by the plaintiff. (Newing v. Cheatham (1975) 15 Cal.3d 351, 359 [124 Cal.Rptr. 193, 540 P.2d 33].) These conditions are clearly satisfied in this case where plaintiff had no injury when he entered the hospital, where he was in the care of the hospital the entire time, where he woke up the morning after surgery with an injury to his shoulder, and where plaintiff’s experts testified his injury probably did not occur without negligence. “The inference of negligence created by the rule of res ipsa loquitur is in itself evidence.” (Gerhardt v. Fresno Medical Group (1963) 217 Cal.App.2d 353, 361 [31 Cal.Rptr. 633].)
The declarations of plaintiff’s experts created a triable issue of fact that should have gone to the jury on the question whether defendant doctors were negligent in their treatment of plaintiff. (See Kennedy v. Modesto City Hospital (1990) 221 Cal.App.3d 575, 580 [270 Cal.Rptr. 544].) I think that the expert doctors on both sides of this case should have to get on the stand and look the jury in the eye and let the jurors decide which theory of the case is more probable.
*518The “drastic” summary judgment in this case deprived plaintiff of his constitutional right to a jury trial as guaranteed by article I, section 16 of the California Constitution.
I would therefore reverse the summary judgment.
I concur with the majority’s conclusion that the trial court properly denied plaintiff’s motion for a continuance because plaintiff’s counsel failed to submit an affidavit, which is a procedural requisite to granting a continuance under the summary judgment statute. (Mahoney v. Southland Mental Health Associates Medical Group (1990) 223 Cal.App.3d 167, 170 [272 Cal.Rptr. 602]; American Continental Ins. Co. v. C & Z Timber Co. (1987) 195 Cal.App.3d 1271, 1280 [241 Cal.Rptr. 466].)