Wrong Expert, No Detail, No Fact Issue.

Lowrey v. Kindred Healthcare Operating, Inc., No. A153421A (D1d4 May 18, 2020)

Trial court granted a defense SJ in a wrongful death and medmal case against a nursing home. It found there wasn’t evidence that anything the home did caused or worsened the effects of a stroke suffered by a resident. Resident tried to create a fact issue by putting in a declaration from a doctor. But the doctor was a physical therapist, not a neurologist, and the declaration was barebones and conclusory. 

The Court of Appeal finds that in the absence of foundational evidence about how the doctor was qualified to testify about stroke causation or any detail about how he drew the conclusions he did, the declaration was properly excluded from evidence under the Sargon standard.

Affirmed.