Keszler v. Memorial Medical Center,
No. 13-01-024-CV (Tex. Ct. App. Apr. 3, 2003)

A Texas physician brought an initial suit against a hospital over a dispute concerning prior corrective action against the physician. The initial suit resulted in a settlement agreement which provided, in part, that the hospital would agree to expunge any record of the corrective action. The agreement further set forth a liquidated damages clause for any material breach by the hospital. The physician subsequently applied for medical staff appointment at a different hospital. That hospital rejected the physician's application after it received a letter from the previous hospital stating the physician was subjected to corrective action. The physician sued, alleging breach of contract based on the first hospital's failure to expunge the hospital records. The hospital filed a "no evidence summary judgment" motion asserting it was supported by the fact that any information submitted to the credentialing hospital constituted communications to a medical peer review committee and thus were privileged under state and federal law. The appeals court said that, even if the privilege applied, the no-evidence summary judgment was defective on its face because the hospital failed to specify with which elements of the physician's contract claim there was no evidence.