(DOWNLOAD) "Silvia Batista v. St. Lukes Hospital" by Supreme Court of New York # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Silvia Batista v. St. Lukes Hospital
- Author : Supreme Court of New York
- Release Date : January 25, 1974
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 62 KB
Description
On April 12, 1970, plaintiff, then 24 years of age and due to give birth, entered defendants hospital for delivery. A cesarean section was performed, with plaintiff under general anesthesia. After the operation she suffered convulsions and seizures, which necessitated the performance of a tracheotomy to enable her to breathe. She was hospitalized for 68 days more than she should have been, one month of which was spent in coma, and emerged with permanent brain damage which has rendered her totally disabled. On April 3, 1972, she commenced this action, alleging that her injuries were the result of the negligent administration of general anesthesia during the operation performed by defendants agents and employees. On May 23, 1972 defendant demanded a bill of particulars and, upon plaintiffs noncompliance, moved for an order of preclusion. On August 21, 1972 Special Term granted such an order, to take effect in the event plaintiff failed to serve the bill within 20 days. On September 13, 1972, defendant granted a 10-day extension for service of the bill. However, the record indicates that it was not until December 7, 1973, some 15 months after entry of the conditional order of preclusion, that plaintiff finally served the bill, at which time it was rejected by defendant as untimely. Plaintiff thereupon moved to vacate the conditional order of preclusion and to direct defendant to accept the late bill. The excuse proffered to Special Term by her attorney was: "The due date, for some reason I am at loss to explain, was not carried forward in the office diary." Special Term denied plaintiffs motion and dismissed the complaint, noting, in its opinion, that "The question of law office failures has repeatedly come up in our courts and has been looked upon with disfavor as an excuse". Upon reargument Special Term adhered to its original determination and stated that it "is sympathetic to the plight of the plaintiff in view of her serious disability [but] is constrained to adhere to its original determination". The categorization of an attorneys negligent act as a "law office failure" does not ipso facto prevent the court from exercising its broad discretionary power to relieve a party of a default if the interests of justice would be furthered by such action. As is the case where relief is requested from a default arising from other causes, the court must exercise its discretion by "a balanced consideration of all relevant factors, including the merit or lack of merit in the action, seriousness of the injury, extent of the [46 A.D.2d 806 Page 807]
 "Silvia Batista v. St. Lukes Hospital" by Supreme Court of New York # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}