Burless v. West Virginia University of Hospitals,
Inc. case brief summary
601 S.E.2d 85 (2004)
CASE FACTS
Both cases in the circuit court were based on alleged negligence concerning the delivery of two babies that were born with severe birth defects. The circuit court found that there was no agency relationship between the hospital and the resident physicians who provided care in the birth of the children in the two cases.
DISCUSSION
CONCLUSION
The judgments were affirmed in part as to the granting of summary judgment on the issue of actual agency; the judgments were reversed in part as to the granting of summary judgment on the issue of apparent agency; and the cases were remanded for further proceedings.
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601 S.E.2d 85 (2004)
CASE SYNOPSIS
Appellants, the parents of
children born with birth defects, sued appellee university hospital
and the university board of trustees in separate actions in the
Circuit Court of Monongalia County (West Virginia), for negligence.
In both actions the circuit court granted the hospital summary
judgment. The parents both appealed. Their cases were consolidated on
appeal.CASE FACTS
Both cases in the circuit court were based on alleged negligence concerning the delivery of two babies that were born with severe birth defects. The circuit court found that there was no agency relationship between the hospital and the resident physicians who provided care in the birth of the children in the two cases.
DISCUSSION
- On appeal, the court found that the physicians who treated patients at the hospital were not agents or employees of the hospital.
- Consequently, no actual agency relationship existed.
- However, it was improper for the circuit court to grant summary judgment in favor of the hospital on the issue of apparent authority.
- First, the parents established a genuine question of material fact as to whether the hospital had either committed an act that would cause a reasonable person to believe that the physicians in question were an agent of the hospital, or, by failing to take an action, created a circumstance that would allow a reasonable person to hold such a belief.
- Second, the parents also established a genuine question of material fact on the issue of their reliance on the apparent agency relationship between the hospital and their treating physicians.
CONCLUSION
The judgments were affirmed in part as to the granting of summary judgment on the issue of actual agency; the judgments were reversed in part as to the granting of summary judgment on the issue of apparent agency; and the cases were remanded for further proceedings.
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