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ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT Daniel A. Gioia Chad J. Melchi Valparaiso, Indiana ATTORNEY FOR CROSS-APPELLANT METHODIST HOSPITALS, INC. Stephen A. Tyler Merrillville, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE I. Peter Polansky Chicago, Illinois Bryan H. Babb Indianapolis, Indiana

______________________________________________________________________________

FILED
of the supreme court, court of appeals and tax court

Indiana Supreme Court
_________________________________ No. 45S05-1105-CT-281 KEITH M. RAMSEY, M.D.,

In the

Jan 12 2012, 9:44 am

CLERK

Appellant (Petitioner below), THE METHODIST HOSPITALS, INC., Cross-Appellant (Petitioner below), v. SHELLA MOORE, Appellee (Respondent below). _________________________________ Appeal from the Lake Superior Court, No. 45D04-0903-CT-83 The Honorable Gerald N. Svetanoff, Judge _________________________________ On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 45A05-1005-CT-308 _________________________________ January 12, 2012 David, Justice. In medical malpractice cases governed by Indiana's Medical Malpractice Act, a medical review panel renders an opinion on a case before the case proceeds to a trial court. The medical review panel chairman, among other things, sets a deadline for a plaintiff's submission of ev i-

dence to the panel. If the plaintiff fails to adhere to the deadline, a defendant can file a motion with the appropriate trial court to dismiss the medical malpractice complaint pending before the panel. This motion initiates a preliminary-determination proceeding before the trial court--a proceeding unique to medical malpractice cases. In this case, the defendants, a doctor and hospital, filed motions for a preliminary determination, requesting that the trial court dismiss the pending medical malpractice complaint due to the plaintiff's dilatory conduct. The trial court issued an order, denying the request, and the defendants appealed. We hold that because the trial court's order is not a final appealable jud gment, there is no subject matter jurisdiction to hear the appeal. Facts and Procedural History Shella Moore, as personal representative of Creshonda Clark's estate, filed a medical malpractice complaint against Dr. Keith M. Ramsey and Methodist Hospital. Moore alleged that Dr. Ramsey and the hospital proximately caused Clark's death, which occurred several days after the stillbirth of Clark's fetus. Moore's complaint was filed with the Indiana Department of Insurance (DOI) on August 4, 2006. A medical review panel chairman was selected, and the parties engaged in discovery and selected other panel members. The final panel member was selected on July 23, 2008. The panel chairmen set a schedule that included, among other things, a September 28, 2008, deadline for Moore's submission of her case to the panel. Furthermore, under Indiana's Medical Malpractice Act, a panel's opinion is due 180 days after the final panel member is s elected;1 thus, the opinion was due on or before January 19, 2009. Moore neither submitted her case by the September 28 deadline nor asked for an extension of time for her submission or the panel's opinion. Instead, on November 26, 2008, Moore's counsel sent letters to the attorneys for the defendants, requesting an extension of the submission deadline so that she could conduct more discovery.

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Ind. Code

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