Kissel v. Center for Women's Health, P.C.

Syllabus

The plaintiff sought to recover damages from the defendant acupuncturist, W, and his employer, C Co., for injuries she suffered when a heat lamp used during an acupuncture treatment burned her left foot and toes due to W's alleged medical malpractice. The plaintiff attached to her complaint a good faith certificate from her attorney but did not attach a written and signed opinion letter from a similar health care provider. C Co. filed a motion to dismiss the action on the ground that the plaintiff failed to attach a written opinion letter from a similar health care pro- vider as required by statute (§ 52-190a). Thereafter, W joined C Co.'s motion to dismiss. Subsequently, the plaintiff filed a request to amend her complaint to attach an opinion letter that she indicated had existed at the time the complaint was originally filed but inadvertently was not attached. The plaintiff also objected to the motions to dismiss and claimed that the trial court had discretion to allow the amendment and to deny the motions to dismiss because the opinion letter existed at the time the action was commenced and was only inadvertently not attached to the original complaint. The trial court denied the motions to dismiss and overruled the objections to the plaintiff's request to amend. There- after, the court granted W's motion to implead H Co., the distributor of the heat lamp, as a third-party defendant. Subsequently, the plaintiff filed an amended complaint to allege a product liability claim against H Co. Following a trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff on the medical malpractice and product liability counts. Thereafter, the court granted W's and C Co.'s motions for permission to file a second motion for reconsideration of the denial of their motions to dismiss but denied the requested relief, denied H Co.'s motions for a directed verdict and to set aside the verdict, and rendered judgment in accordance with the verdict. On separate appeals brought to this c