BANNER UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER TUCSON CAMPUS, LLC, AN ARIZONA CORPORATION DBA BANNER UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER TUCSON; GEETHA GOPALAKRISHNAN, M.D.; MARIE L. OLSON, M.D.; EMILY NICOLE LAWSON, D.O.; DEMETRIO J. CAMARENA, M.D.; PRAKASH JOEL MATHEW, M.D.; SARAH MOHAMED DESOKY, M.D.; BANNER HEALTH; BANNER UNIVERSITY MEDICAL GROUP, Petitioners, v. HON. RICHARD E. GORDON, JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF ARIZONA, IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF PIMA, Respondent, and JEREMY AND KIMBERLY HARRIS, Real Parties in Interest., 252 Ariz. 264

Summary

ISSUE: Whether a vicarious liability claim against a hospital-employer was precluded because the trial court granted summary judgment dismissing medical malpractice claims against doctor-employees with prejudice. HOLDINGS: [1]-The order at issue could not be a final judgment absent the necessary Ariz. R. Civ. P. 54(b) language; nor, in the absence of resolving all claims as to all parties, could it be a Rule 54(c) final judgment; [2]-Furthermore, absent a judge's signature, the order was not a judgment. For these reasons, the order dismissing the doctors was not a "final judgment" that could be used to invoke issue or claim preclusion; [3]-Equally problematic for application of preclusion was the trial court's statement that it did not consider the procedural dismissal of the claims against the doctors an adjudication on the merits; [4]-The vicarious liability claim was not precluded.