Court Opinion

ID: 9680430
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:31:48.507032+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:28.520794
License: Public Domain

POPE, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I dissent because the majority, while holding that the statutory requirement that a medical malpractice claimant must give notice “at least 60 days before the filing of suit,” also holds that it is all right if he does not give notice “at least 60 days before the filing of suit.” The statute means nothing, says the majority-
I agree with the majority holding that the Medical Liability and Insurance Improvement Act expressly requires sixty *939days notice prior to filing suit. Tex.Rev. Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 4590i, § 4.01. I agree that the legislative history demonstrates an intent to reject those claims that are groundless and unmeritorious — those that are filed as nuisance suits that are costly and embarrassing to the medical provider. I agree that the Keeton Commission found that malpractice claims, and especially the nuisance claims, magnify the costs for all users of medical services.
I agree that it was the surplus of nuisance and embarrassment claims that generated the excessive malpractice and premium costs. I further agree that the legislature intended to eliminate needless court costs and litigation by weeding out some of the spurious claims by requiring the patient to notify the physician or health care provider sixty days before filing suit. The purpose of the act was to keep cases from reaching the stage of a lawsuit, with its process, discovery, mag-card and mimeographed multiple interrogatories, requests for admissions, and depositions. These procedures constitute the per-hour costs of present litigation, even in the instance of the spurious suit. It was this evil that article 4590i, section 4.01 purposed to eliminate.
The Texas Legislature was at first presented with a two-step mechanism as a means to eliminate spurious claims. The first was the notice provision contained in section 4.01. The second was the proposal for a mandatory screening panel. That panel had to act before a suit was filed. The legislature determined that the pre-suit notice would be sufficient to accomplish the purpose of weeding out the false, sham, and meretricious claims. Both provisions, however, contemplated notice before suit was filed.
I agree that the legislature in eliminating the second pre-suit step determined that only one step was necessary to achieve its purpose. It determined that the sixty-day pre-suit notice would afford an opportunity for consultation, mediation, and adjustment in many instances. I agree that the legislature in eliminating the two-step pre-suit requirement, determined that the sixty-day notice provision was enough and would accomplish its objective.
The legislature intended the avoidance of nuisance suits. They clog dockets, stand in the way of meritorious claims, and constitute that vast body of lawsuits that are on the docket but are not being pressed for trial. See J. Lieberman, The Litigious Society 3-5, 66-68 (1981).
The modest purpose of the legislature was to clear the dockets for those cases that have merit to their claims. The whole statute is frustrated when we permit the claimant to ignore the statute, file the suit, and then let the case take its course.
I would hold up the arm of the legislature and affirm the judgment of the court of appeals, which instructs the trial court to dismiss the suit.