Most of our clients here at Painter Law Firm don’t express any opinion as to the specific jurisdiction where their medical malpractice lawsuits will be filed—they leave this decision up to our professional determination.
It wasn’t long ago, though, that an out-of-state client who had been a victim of medical malpractice in Houston, Texas felt that the lawsuit should be filed in his home state. We had a detailed conversation about what’s allowed by the applicable laws before agreeing that the lawsuit had to be filed in Houston.
Federal or state court?
Anytime that we’re preparing a medical malpractice lawsuit for filing, an initial consideration is whether there’s a basis to file in federal court over state court. Although many plaintiffs’ attorneys don’t like to be in federal court, I prefer the certainty in terms of getting rulings from the court and having a definitive schedule.
With that said, as a general rule any medical malpractice case may be filed in state court because they are negligence claims that arise under state law. Because federal courts have limited jurisdiction, they’re allowed to only hear health care liability claims that fall within two jurisdictional categories.
The first is diversity jurisdiction. A federal court can hear a medical malpractice case when the amount in controversy is over $75,000 and no plaintiff has the same state citizenship as any defendant. It is easy to see how most medical malpractice cases won’t meet these requirements. In the normal case, the injured plaintiff will have the same citizenship as the hospital or doctor.
The second circumstance when federal courts can handle a health care liability claim is federal question jurisdiction. There’s a federal question in a claim when it’s based on a federal law or statute. In the health care liability context, the most common federal question claim is an alleged violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), the anti-patient dumping statute.
Federal court venue
If a federal district court has either diversity or federal question jurisdiction, then the next analytical stop is the federal venue statute, 28 USC Section 1391. Federal law doesn’t allow plaintiffs to file a lawsuit in any federal district of their choice. Instead, the venue statute allows plaintiffs to bring a valid federal lawsuit in:
• A judicial district in which any defendant resides, if all defendants are residents of the State in which the district is located;
• A judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or a substantial part of property that is the subject of the action is situated; or
• If there is no district in which an action may otherwise be brought as provided in this section, any judicial district in which any defendant is subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction with respect to such action.
State court venue
In the overwhelming majority of medical malpractice cases, there won’t be federal court jurisdiction, so the case will have to be filed in state court. Under Texas law, that could be a county court or district court, depending on the amount in controversy. It’s our practice to file in district court, which has unlimited dollar-amount jurisdiction.
When filing a new lawsuit for a Texas district court, it’s done with the district clerk’s office, which then randomly assigns a district court and judge to handle the case. Thus, in counties where there’s more than one district court, it’s not possible for plaintiff to select the judge handling the case.
A plaintiff may, though, pick the most favorable jurisdiction based on the options allowed by the Texas venue statute.
Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code Section 15.002 spells out the general venue rules, which state that lawsuits shall be brought:
(1) in the county in which all or a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred;
(2) in the county of defendant's residence at the time the cause of action accrued if defendant is a natural person;
(3) in the county of the defendant's principal office in this state, if the defendant is not a natural person; or
(4) if Subdivisions (1), (2), and (3) do not apply, in the county in which the plaintiff resided at the time of the accrual of the cause of action.
There are a few important observations to make about the general venue rules:
• There are many situations where there is more than one option allowed under the general venue. When this occurs, a competent plaintiffs’ lawyer will file the case in the most favorable venue, which is the one that would be felt to be most fair to the client.
• Note the bolded text for the verb “accrue” in the statute above. This means that the relevant timing for purposes of venue determination is the time that the negligence occurred. For example, if a plaintiff had surgery at the hospital in Plano, Collin County, Texas, and a defendant surgeon’s residence was in Dallas, Dallas County, Texas at the time of the alleged negligence, then venue would be proper in either Collin or Dallas County. But, if the surgeon lived in Collin County when the negligence occurred, but later moved to Dallas County, then you would only be proper in Collin County.
Careful jurisdiction and venue analysis are important part of any Texas medical malpractice lawsuit. If you’ve been seriously injured as a result for hospital or medical care, then contact a top-rated experienced Houston, Texas medical malpractice lawyer for help in evaluating your potential case.
