Congratulations to Carolyn (“Carrie”) Stein, James Hittinger, and Nausheen Gaznabi on obtaining summary judgment in a Maryland Circuit Court.
The plaintiff in this case alleged that our client, a hospital, was vicariously liable for the alleged negligence of an on-call surgeon who purportedly lacerated the plaintiff’s ureter during abdominal surgery. Plaintiff’s ureter could not be repaired and one of his kidneys was removed.
The Kiernan Trebach team’s Motion for Summary Judgment argued that under the circumstances at issue, the evidence demonstrated that the surgeon was not an actual or apparent agent of the hospital. The surgeon was (1) not employed by our client, (2) did not receive benefits from our client, and (3) our client did not control or direct the surgeon’s work, and (4) the plaintiff did not rely on any relationship between our client and the surgeon in proceeding with the surgery.
After a hearing on our motion, the Court agreed that as a matter of law, the surgeon was not an actual or apparent agent of the hospital, and entered judgment for our client.
Great result, Carrie, James, and Nausheen!
