S-21-494, Warren Evans (Appellants) v. Freedom Healthcare, LLC (Appellee)
Lancaster County District Court, Hon. Jodi Nelson
Attorneys: Elizabeth A. Govaerts (Powers Law)--- Erin C. Duggan Pemberton (Wolfe Snowden Hurd Ahl Sitzmann Tannehill & Hahn), Andrew D. Wurdeman (Wolfe Snowden Hurd Ahl Sitzmann Tannehill & Hahn).
Civil: Medical malpractice
Proceedings Below: The district court resolved on summary judgment a medical malpractice action. The court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, finding that (1) as to the plaintiff’s ordinary negligence action, the plaintiff had failed to provide sufficient evidence in support of his claim, and (2) as to the plaintiff’s res ipsa loquitur negligence action, the plaintiff’s claim failed (a) as a matter of law, and (b) because there was not sufficient evidence that the case was an appropriate one to be resolved using res ipsa.
Issues: On appeal, Evans assigns that the trial court erred by:
1. Granting the defendant’s motion because the opinions of the plaintiff’s expert created a material issue of fact for trial;
2. Determining the plaintiff’s claim under the doctrine of res ipsa failed as a matter of law because the complaint alleged specific acts of negligence;
3. Finding that the plaintiff failed to establish proof by an expert in an esoteric field that created an inference that negligence caused the plaintiff’s injuries via Dr. Swanson’s testimony and per the factors articulated in Swierczek v. Lynch, 237 Neb. 469, 476 (1991) and, therefore, the plaintiff’s claim under the doctrine of res ipsa failed; and
4. Considering the consent form as evidence that an infection at the site of a hemocyte tissue autograft injection was not so palpably negligent that it would require negligence to be inferred as a matter of law.