Doctors Company v. Sherman Oaks Hospital CA2/8

Filed 10/30/13 Doctors Company v. Sherman Oaks Hospital CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

DOCTORS COMPANY, B246818

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. LC 088772) v.

SHERMAN OAKS HOSPITAL,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Huey P. Cotton, Judge. Affirmed with modifications.

Randolph M. Even and Associates, Randolph M. Even; Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland and Robert A. Olson for Defendant and Appellant.

McCurdy & Leibl and John D. McCurdy for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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“Before the enactment of Proposition 51, a defendant who settled the plaintiff’s entire claim was entitled to seek indemnification from concurrent tortfeasors for its payment of their joint obligation to the plaintiff. [Citations.] Now, however, joint liability is restricted to economic damages, and the right to seek indemnity after settlement is correspondingly limited.” (Union Pacific Corp. v. Wengert (2000) 79 Cal.App.4th 1444, 1448.) It logically follows that equitable indemnity is available only for the portion of a settlement attributable to economic damages. (Id. at p. 1446.) This case requires us to determine the portion of a good faith settlement attributable to economic damages and the portion attributable to noneconomic damages. We modify the amount of the judgment requiring one defendant to equitably indemnify another and affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURE The facts are undisputed. Elizabeth Bovaird filed a lawsuit in December 2005, alleging medical malpractice by Drs. Hossein Razavi, Sailila Sharma, Shivdyal Singh, and appellant Sherman Oaks Health System (the Hospital). The Doctors Company’s (Doctors’) predecessor insured Singh and Sharma. Razavi settled for $1 million and obtained good faith settlement from the trial court. The trial court did not apportion his settlement between economic and noneconomic damages. Sharma and Singh each settled for $1 million, and the Hospital settled for $250,000. Following the settlements totaling $3,250,000, Bovaird dismissed her lawsuit. On March 2, 2010, Doctors sued the Hospital for equitable indemnity. Jurors were asked to apportion liability between the defendants in the underlying malpractice lawsuit. Jurors assessed responsibility as follows: Hospital, 11 percent; Sharma, 8 percent; Singh, 13 percent; and Razavi, 68 percent. Jurors were not asked either to apportion economic and noneconomic damages or to determine the total amount of damages. Doctors and the Hospital stipulated that the noneconomic damages totaled $750,000. The trial court ordered the Hospital to equitably indemnify Doctors in the amount of $523,437. This amount was based on Doctors’ approach of calculating Razavi’s noneconomic damages by determining 68 percent of $750,000 (the amount stipulated by