On Friday, while you were you tapping your toes to bluegrass on Fayetteville Street, the Supreme Court was filing its latest opinions, with a focus on disputes over child custody and child abuse and neglect proceedings. Those are fine and well, but we like to make sure the Court’s other orders, especially on pending petitions, also get some attention.
The Court allowed just two petitions for discretionary review on Friday, but they’re of significant interest to healthcare providers and medical malpractice practitioners. Each of the petitions presents a handful of potential issues, but they both have one legal doctrine in common. The loss of chance doctrine imposes liability on healthcare providers that breach the standard of care and reduce the chances of a patient’s recovery from an illness. In one of the cases that the Supreme Court will review, the Court of Appeals had held that loss of chances claims were not cognizable. The Supreme Court will now decide whether that remains the case.
We also keep an eye on interesting petitions for discretionary review that remain pending before the Supreme Court. Last time, we noted a petition involving new voter identification laws and an effort by the law’s challengers to bypass the Court of Appeals. On Friday, the Supreme Court denied the bypass petition. Although we saw the Court flex some muscle on its discretionary docket earlier this year, the Court doesn’t seem to have an appetite for accelerating this politically-charged case.
If you see some other interesting petitions filed with the Court, let us know!
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