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No Expert Testimony Required to Prove Negligent Supervision of Massage Provider Who Sexually Assaulted a Customer

Written on Monday, June 29th, 2020 by T.C. Kelly
Filed under: ExpertWitness, In the News, Working with Experts

As a general rule, expert testimony is required to prove the liability of a healthcare provider for negligence. That rule is typically enforced in medical malpractice cases alleging that a doctor harmed a patient by breaching a duty of care. The injury victim must use an expert witness to establish the duty of care because ordinary jurors do not usually understand what the medical profession expects a prudent doctor to do when caring for a patient.

An exception to the rule allows medical negligence cases to proceed without an expert witness when the negligence is obvious to ordinary people. A doctor who operates on the wrong knee is a classic example. A jury does not need expert testimony to understand that a doctor should verify which knee is injured before surgery begins.

The Tennessee Supreme Court was recently asked whether the “common knowledge exception” to expert testimony should apply to a case involving negligent hiring and supervision by a spa. Under the facts of the case, the court held that no expert testimony was required to prove liability.

Facts of the Case

Lataisha Jackson went to Gould’s Day Spa & Salon in Cordova for a massage. She alleged that she was sexually assaulted by a masseur.

Jackson alleged that two other customers of Gould’s had made complaints about the masseur’s inappropriate conduct but Gould’s took no action to protect her from similar misconduct. She sued Gould’s for negligently hiring, training, supervising, and retaining the masseur who assaulted her.

Whether or not Jackson’s massage meets an ordinary understanding of “health care,” all the courts that considered the case categorized it as a “health care liability” lawsuit. Tennessee’s Health Care Liability Act applies to lawsuits against any “health care practitioner” if the practitioner must be licensed under Tennessee laws governing “professions of the healing arts.”

Tennessee law deems massage practitioners to be members of a profession of the healing arts who must be licensed. Without discussing whether licensing alone makes a massage provider a “health care practitioner,” the supreme court concluded in a footnote that Gould’s was protected by the Health Care Liability Act.

Certificate of Good Faith

The Act requires plaintiffs to file a “certificate of good faith” with a complaint that alleges the negligence of a health care practitioner. The certificate must state that the plaintiff consulted with an expert who is competent to testify under the Act and that the expert determined the existence of a good faith basis for bringing the lawsuit.

Jackson did not file the certificate because she viewed a lawsuit for negligent hiring and supervision as outside the scope of the Health Care Liability Act. The trial court decided that the Act applied to the negligence claims that Jackson alleged. The court granted summary judgment against her because she did not file a certificate stating that she had consulted with an expert.

The court of appeals, over a dissent, concluded that the standard a spa should follow after receiving a complaint about a massage provider was not within the common knowledge of jurors. The dissenting judge opined that the need to protect disrobed customers from being touched inappropriately by a masseur was not the kind of complex question that could only be answered with expert assistance.

The Common Knowledge Exception in Tennessee

Whether an expert witness was required to prove that Gould’s was negligent turned on the applicability of the common knowledge exception. The exception excuses plaintiffs from providing expert testimony when the alleged misconduct falls within the understanding of lay members of the public. If an applicable standard of care, a breach of that standard, and resulting injury would all be obvious to ordinary people, no expert testimony is required.

The common knowledge exception is widely accepted. The Tennessee Supreme Court filled two pages of its opinion with cases from other jurisdictions that recognize the exception.

While Tennessee’s Health Care Liability Act applies to negligence claims against health care providers, the court decided that consultation with an expert is only necessary in cases that require expert testimony. When the common knowledge exception applies, no certificate of good faith is required. Since the legislature supposedly required the certificate to assure courts that a health care liability claim had arguable merit, requiring the certificate would be pointless when the claim’s merit would be obvious to a lay member of the public.

Tennessee Supreme Court Decision

The court relied on Tennessee precedent in deciding whether a health care provider’s negligence is obvious. The court cited a case involving an X-ray technician who asked a patient to stand on a wobbly stool. The patient fell and was injured. Since telling a patient to stand on unsafe furniture is obviously negligent, no certificate of good faith was required.

In a case with facts that more closely parallel to Jackson’s, a patient at a mental health facility sued the facility for the negligent hiring and training of a security guard who attacked him. While providing security scarcely qualifies as health care, the court decided that the Health Care Liability Act applied to the lawsuit. It concluded, however, that whether the facility negligently breached its duty to protect patients from the assaultive conduct of security guards was a question that a jury could answer without the assistance of expert testimony.

In light of that precedent, the supreme court sensibly decided that the need for expert testimony turns on whether the allegedly negligent conduct “involved the exercise of medical judgment or skill.” When a jury will be called upon to consider whether a doctor used the skill that a reasonable doctor should possess, or made professional judgments involving medical risks and benefits that a reasonable professional would make, the plaintiff must provide expert evidence in support of the negligence claim.

Applying that rule to Jackson’s case, the court decided that expert testimony was not required. The claim that a spa knew or should have known, based on customer complaints, that a masseur might assault customers can be decided without expert evidence. Ordinary jurors have sufficient knowledge and experience to decide whether a spa negligently hired, retained, or supervised an employee who sexually assaulted a customer.

A different result might apply when the plaintiff claims that a massage provider “negligently performed the massage, used improper technique or excessive force, or erred in decision-making as a massage therapist.” In cases involving hiring or retention decisions that do not require professional expertise, however, no expert testimony is required to prove negligence.

 

About T.C. Kelly

Prior to his retirement, T.C. Kelly handled litigation and appeals in state and federal courts across the Midwest. He focused his practice on criminal defense, personal injury, and employment law. He now writes about legal issues for a variety of publications.

About T.C. Kelly

Prior to his retirement, T.C. Kelly handled litigation and appeals in state and federal courts across the Midwest. He focused his practice on criminal defense, personal injury, and employment law. He now writes about legal issues for a variety of publications.