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Stoll v. Noel

Supreme Court of Florida
Apr 10, 1997
694 So. 2d 701 (Fla. 1997)

Summary

holding that physicians who contracted with the state to work as consultants for a state health care facility were state agents and entitled to sovereign immunity

Summary of this case from Keck v. Eminisor

Opinion

No. 86,685.

Opinion filed April 10, 1997. Rehearing Denied May 27, 1997.

Application for Review of the Decision of the District Court of Appeal — Certified Great Public Importance; Fourth District — Case No. 93-1731, (Broward County).

George Bunnell and Gary Farmer, Jr. of Bunnell, Woulfe, Keller Gillespie, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Bartley C. Miller of Panza, Maurer, Maynard Neel, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Robert Collier of Timothy J. Payne, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Carter G. Phillips and Paul E. Kalb of Sidley Austin, Washington, D.C., for Petitioners.

Sheldon J. Schlesinger, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Joel S. Perwin of Podhurst, Orseck, Josefsberg, Easton, Meadow, Olin Perwin, P.A., Miami, Florida, for Respondents.

Jane Kreusler-Walsh of Jane Kreusler-Walsh, P.A., West Palm Beach, Florida, for State of Florida, Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, Children's Medical Services, Amicus Curiae.

John E. Thrasher and Christopher L. Nuland, Jacksonville, Florida, for Florida Medical Association, Amicus Curiae.

Harry T. Hackeny of Cummins, Mueller Judson, P.A., Leesburg, Florida, for Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, Amicus Curiae.


CORRECTED OPINION


We have for review a decision addressing the following question certified to be of great public importance:

WHETHER IMMUNITY PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 768.28 SHOULD BE GRANTED TO PHYSICIAN CONSULTANTS WHO CONTRACT WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, CHILDREN'S MEDICAL SERVICES.

Noel v. North Broward Hosp. Dist., 664 So.2d 989 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const.

The action underlying this appeal was originally filed in 1990 by the parents of Minouche Noel, both individually and on behalf of their daughter. They alleged that physicians (CMS consultants) Stoll, Watson,Hodge, and Sirois, who treated Minouche at the Children's Medical Services' (CMS) Broward facility, run by the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS), failed to adequately diagnose and treat a cyst which complicated Minouche's spina bifida and resulted in a permanent and painful disability.

The physicians pled that they were employees or agents of the state through HRS and CMS and therefore immune from liability and suit. The trial court agreed and entered final summary judgment in favor of the physicians and their professional associations (except for Hodge who did not have a professional association). The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed the judgments in favor of the physicians; reversed the judgments in favor of Stoll's and Watson's professional associations; affirmed summary judgment in favor of Sirois' professional association; and held that issues of material fact remained and must be considered by the trial court before determining whether CMS consultants are agents or employees of CMS.Noel, 664 So.2d at 992. The district court certified the foregoing question to this Court and the physicians sought review.

The legislature has authorized HRS to establish CMS clinics statewide pursuant to the Children's Medical Services Act, chapter 391, Florida Statutes (1993), in order to provide medical care to indigent, chronically disabled children. Employees and agents of the state are protected under section 768.28(9)(a), Florida Statutes (1993).

Noel argues before this Court that the physicians, who contracted with HRS to workin the CMS program, are not entitled to statutory immunity because they are independent contractors, not agents or employees of the state. We agree that CMS physician consultants are independent contractors. However, notwithstanding their independent contractor status, they are not precluded from being agents of the state — thereby entitling them to its statutory immunity from suit and liability as provided by section 768.28, Florida Statutes:

(9)(a) No officer, employee, or agent of the state . . . shall be held personally liable in tort or named as a party defendant in any action for any injury or damage suffered as a result of any act, event, or omission of action in the scope of his employment or function . . . .

§ 768.28 (9)(a), Fla. Stat. (1993).

The Restatement (Second) of Agency § 14N (1957) explains that the roles of agent and independent contractor are not mutually exclusive:

One who contracts to act on behalf of another and subject to the other's control except with respect to his physical conduct is an agent and also an independent contractor.

Comment: [M]ost of the persons known as agents, that is, brokers, factors, attorneys, collection agencies, and selling agencies are independent contractors . . . since they are contractors but, although employed to perform services, are not subject to the control or right to control of the principal with respect to their physical conduct in the performance of the services. However, they fall within the category of agents.

Whether CMS physician consultants are agents of the state turns on the degree of control retained or exercised by CMS. This Court has held that the right to control depends upon the terms of the employment contract. National Sur. Corp. v. Windham, 74 So.2d 549, 550 (Fla. 1954) ("The [principal's] right to control depends upon the terms of the contract of employment. . . ."). CMS requires each consultant, as a condition of participating in the CMS program, to agree to abide by the terms published in its HRS Manual and CMS Consultant's Guide which contain CMS policies and rules governing its relationship with the consultants. The Consultant's Guide states that all services provided to CMS patients must be authorized in advance by the clinic medical director. The language of the HRS Manual ascribes to CMS responsibility to supervise and direct the medical care of all CMS patients and supervisory authority over all personnel. The manual also grants to the CMS medical director absolute authority over payment for treatments proposed by consultants. The HRS Manual and the Consultant's Guide demonstrate that CMS has final authority over all care and treatment provided to CMS patients, and it can refuse to allow a physician consultant's recommended course of treatment of any CMS patient for either medical or budgetary reasons.

Our conclusion is buttressed by HRS's acknowledgment that the manual creates an agency relationship between CMS and its physician consultants, and despite its potential liability in this case, HRS has acknowledged full financial responsibility for the physicians' actions. HRS's interpretation of its manual is entitled to judicial deference and great weight. See generally Raffield v. State, 565 So.2d 704, 706 (Fla. 1990); Pan Am. World Airways, Inc. v. Florida Public Serv. Comm'n, 427 So.2d 716, 719 (Fla. 1983).

We find that the record supports summary judgment in favor of the physicians and their professional associations. Accordingly, we answer the certified question in the affirmative and quash the decision of the district court reversing the summary judgments in favor of Amos W. Stoll, M.D., Allen S. Watson, M.D., Ronald C. Sirois, M.D., Sonia Hodge, M.D., Amos W. Stoll, M.D., P.A. and Allen S. Watson, M.D., P.A. We approve the decision of the district court affirming summary judgment entered on behalf of Williams, Harper, Sirois, P.A. and remand the case for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

It is so ordered.

KOGAN, C.J., and OVERTON, SHAW, GRIMES, HARDING, WELLS and ANSTEAD, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Stoll v. Noel

Supreme Court of Florida
Apr 10, 1997
694 So. 2d 701 (Fla. 1997)

holding that physicians who contracted with the state to work as consultants for a state health care facility were state agents and entitled to sovereign immunity

Summary of this case from Keck v. Eminisor

finding that physicians were agents of the state and thus entitled to statutory immunity under section 768.28

Summary of this case from Lovelace v. G4S Secure Sols. (U.S.)

concluding that private doctors and their professional associations were agents of Children's Medical Services

Summary of this case from Bean v. Univ. of Miami

recognizing that "the roles of agent and independent contractor are not mutually exclusive"

Summary of this case from Gradia v. Baptist Hosp.

explaining "that the roles of agent and independent contractor are not mutually exclusive" and depend on "the degree of control retained or exercised by [the state]"

Summary of this case from Freyre v. Chronister

noting that independent contractors "are not preluded from being agents of the state" for purposes of § 768.28

Summary of this case from Obremski v. Armor Corr. Health Servs., Inc.

In Stoll, the Court found that a group of doctors were "agents" of the state, and therefore immune under section 768.28(9), because their (1) employment contract required them to abide by state guidelines; and (2) the state retained ultimate authority over their patients' care. Stoll, 694 So. 2d at 703.

Summary of this case from Horn v. Volusia County, Florida

In Stoll, the supreme court found that physicians were agents of the state and thus entitled to sovereign immunity under section 768.28(9).

Summary of this case from Naso v. Hall

In Stoll, a patient brought a malpractice action against physicians at a clinic run by the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services ("HRS").

Summary of this case from Lovelace v. G4S Secure Sols. (U.S.)

In Stoll v. Noel, 694 So.2d 701 (Fla. 1997), the Florida Supreme Court extended section 768.28 immunity to doctors and their professional associations that provided medical services to a state-run children's medical clinic in Broward County.

Summary of this case from Bean v. Univ. of Miami

reviewing the contract between the doctors and children's medical services and the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services regulations to conclude that the doctors were agents of the state

Summary of this case from Bean v. Univ. of Miami

In Stoll, the leading Florida Supreme Court case on extension of sovereign immunity to private parties acting as state agents, the court acknowledged that "the right to control depends upon the terms of the employment contract."

Summary of this case from Agner v. Apac-Florida, Inc.
Case details for

Stoll v. Noel

Case Details

Full title:AMOS W. STOLL, M.D., ET AL., PETITIONERS, vs. MINOUCHE NOEL, ETC., ET AL.…

Court:Supreme Court of Florida

Date published: Apr 10, 1997

Citations

694 So. 2d 701 (Fla. 1997)

Citing Cases

Bean v. Univ. of Miami

Here are three examples. In Stoll v. Noel, 694 So.2d 701 (Fla. 1997), the Florida Supreme Court extended…

Lovelace v. G4S Secure Sols. (U.S.)

Whether the party who contracted with the state is an agent of the state for the purposes of section 768.28,…