Baptist Mem’l Hosp.-Miss. Cnty., Inc. v. Kalyan (Summary)

CONTRACT DISPUTES

Baptist Mem’l Hosp.-Miss. Cnty., Inc. v. Kalyan, No. CV-14-450 (Ark. Ct. App. Dec. 10, 2014)

An appellate court in Arkansas reversed and remanded a trial jury’s award of damages, finding insufficient evidence to support the amount of damages that had been awarded in a case in which a pulmonologist breached his physician agreement with a hospital.

The pulmonologist was recruited to work full time for a hospital. The pulmonologist and the hospital signed a physician agreement stipulating that the hospital would pay the pulmonologist guaranteed draws for income assistance and practice expenses. Under the terms of the physician agreement, the pulmonologist was supposed to repay the amount of the advancement, unless he worked at the hospital long enough for his debt to be forgiven. During his practice at the hospital, the pulmonologist received $228,350.74. The pulmonologist left before the terms of his contract were up and did not repay the amount he received from the hospital. A jury trial determined that the pulmonologist had breached his contract, but had awarded the hospital only $46,478.38 in damages. The hospital appealed this amount.

The appellate court found that the pulmonologist presented no evidence at trial to suggest that the pulmonologist’s amount owed should be set off. Additionally, though the pulmonologist argued that he was entitled to damages for the hospital’s negligent recruitment, claiming that the hospital knew there was not enough need to support a full-time pulmonologist, he had failed to present any damages at trial. Because he received $228,350.74 and was found to have breached his contract with the hospital, the court found no substantial evidence to support the jury’s award of $46,478.38.