Congratulations Phillips & Alexander on Appellate Court win

August 3rd, 2016  

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Congratulations to Marty Phillips and John Alexander on their recent Appellate Court win in the case of Caldwell v. Baptist Memorial Hospital, No. W201501076COAR10CV, 2016 WL 3226431 (Tenn. Ct. App. June 3, 2016).  In this health care liability action, the Court granted the Defendants’ application for an extraordinary appeal and held that: (1) the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) does not preempt Tenn. Code Ann. § 29–26–121(f), which allows defense counsel to meet ex parte with a plaintiff’s treating physicians; and (2) the trial court erred in denying the Defendants’ petition for a qualified protective order under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29–26–121(f) because it is undisputed that the Defendants complied with the procedural requirements of subsection (f), and the Plaintiff did not file an objection as permitted under the statute. The Court therefore reversed the trial court’s ruling and remanded the case back to the trial court for the entry of a qualified protective order.

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