Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.352 – Discovery Procedures
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(a) In every health care liability claim the plaintiff shall within 45 days after the date of filing of the original petition serve on the defendant‘s attorney or, if no attorney has appeared for the defendant, on the defendant full and complete answers to the appropriate standard set of interrogatories and full and complete responses to the appropriate standard set of requests for production of documents and things promulgated by the Health Care Liability Discovery Panel.
(b) Every physician or health care provider who is a defendant in a health care liability claim shall within 45 days after the date on which an answer to the petition was due serve on the plaintiff’s attorney or, if the plaintiff is not represented by an attorney, on the plaintiff full and complete answers to the appropriate standard set of interrogatories and complete responses to the standard set of requests for production of documents and things promulgated by the Health Care Liability Discovery Panel.
Terms Used In Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.352
- Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
- Court: means any federal or state court. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Health care: means any act or treatment performed or furnished, or that should have been performed or furnished, by any health care provider for, to, or on behalf of a patient during the patient's medical care, treatment, or confinement. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001
- Health care liability claim: means a cause of action against a health care provider or physician for treatment, lack of treatment, or other claimed departure from accepted standards of medical care, or health care, or safety or professional or administrative services directly related to health care, which proximately results in injury to or death of a claimant, whether the claimant's claim or cause of action sounds in tort or contract. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001
- Health care provider: means any person, partnership, professional association, corporation, facility, or institution duly licensed, certified, registered, or chartered by the State of Texas to provide health care, including:
(i) a registered nurse;
(ii) a dentist;
(iii) a podiatrist;
(iv) a pharmacist;
(v) a chiropractor;
(vi) an optometrist;
(vii) a health care institution; or
(viii) a health care collaborative certified under Chapter 848, Insurance Code. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001 - in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by writing, printing, or other means. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
- Physician: means :
(A) an individual licensed to practice medicine in this state;
(B) a professional association organized under the Texas Professional Association Act (Article 1528f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) by an individual physician or group of physicians;
(C) a partnership or limited liability partnership formed by a group of physicians;
(D) a nonprofit health corporation certified under § 162. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001 - Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
(c) Except on motion and for good cause shown, no objection may be asserted regarding any standard interrogatory or request for production of documents and things, but no response shall be required where a particular interrogatory or request is clearly inapplicable under the circumstances of the case.
(d) Failure to file full and complete answers and responses to standard interrogatories and requests for production of documents and things in accordance with Subsections (a) and (b) or the making of a groundless objection under Subsection (c) shall be grounds for sanctions by the court in accordance with the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure on motion of any party.
(e) The time limits imposed under Subsections (a) and (b) may be extended by the court on the motion of a responding party for good cause shown and shall be extended if agreed in writing between the responding party and all opposing parties. In no event shall an extension be for a period of more than an additional 30 days.
(f) If a party is added by an amended pleading, intervention, or otherwise, the new party shall file full and complete answers to the appropriate standard set of interrogatories and full and complete responses to the standard set of requests for production of documents and things no later than 45 days after the date of filing of the pleading by which the party first appeared in the action.
(g) If information or documents required to provide full and complete answers and responses as required by this section are not in the possession of the responding party or attorney when the answers or responses are filed, the party shall supplement the answers and responses in accordance with the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.
(h) Nothing in this section shall preclude any party from taking additional non-duplicative discovery of any other party. The standard sets of interrogatories provided for in this section shall not constitute, as to each plaintiff and each physician or health care provider who is a defendant, the first of the two sets of interrogatories permitted under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.