Garibay v. Hemmat

Plaintiffs Alejandra Garibay (Garibay) and Toby C. Barron, Jr., appeal from a judgment entered after the trial court granted summary judgment on plaintiffs claim for medical malpractice arising from surgery performed on Garibay by defendant Mehdi Hemmat, M.D. (Dr. Hemmat). Defendants summary judgment motion relied solely on the opinion of a medical expert witness that Dr. Hemmat did not commit medical malpractice. The medical expert witness based his opinion on facts derived from his review of hospital and medical records. These records were not properly admitted into evidence under the business records exception to the hearsay rule, however, and did not accompany the declaration or the summary judgment motion. We find that the defendant moving for summary judgment failed to meet his burden of production of evidence, and reverse.