Doctors Hosp. at Renaissance, Ltd. v. Andrade – June 2015 (Summary)

VICARIOUS LIABILITY

Doctors Hosp. at Renaissance, Ltd. v. Andrade
No. 13-15-00046-CV (Tex. App. June 18, 2015)

The parents of a child who was permanently injured at birth, sued the treating doctor and attempted to add the hospital as a defendant. The hospital involved was a limited partnership and the treating physician was a limited partner. The parents attempted to hold both the hospital limited partnership and the general partner in the limited partnership vicariously liable for the acts or omission of the limited partner treating physician. The hospital and the general partner moved for summary judgment claiming that limited partnership is not authorized to practice medicine and that the physician was not acting within the scope or authority of the limited partnership at the time of the injury.

The trial court denied that motion but permitted the hospital and general partner to appeal that decision to the Court of Appeals. The Texas Court of Appeals held that there was an issue of fact as to whether at the time of the incident the doctor was acting on behalf of the partnership. Therefore, the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision denying the motion for summary judgment, and so a jury will decide whether the treating doctor was acting as the agent of the hospital and the general partner.