A Texas Appeals Court dismissed a medical malpractice lawsuit due to the delay in submission of expert report by the plaintiff’s lawyers by 18 minutes. Due to be filed by 12: AM, the lawyer filed it at 12:18 instead costing them the lawsuit.
The argument of the plaintiff’s lawyers was that the physician did not make the required report available leading to the said delay. However, the court rejected this argument saying that there was no evidence to prove that either parties tried to set up a mutually convenient date and time to obtain and inspect the records until the date on which the expert report was due.
The court also observed that the plaintiff’s lawyers did not seek the assistance of the court to obtain the necessary medical records.