Appellant, Pm Management-Trinity Nc, LLC D/B/A Trinity Care Center v. Appellees, Michael Kumets, Pavel Kumets, and Strul Kumets

I join with Chief Justice Jones in this Court’s judgment affirming the district court’s dismissal of the Kumetses’ “improper billing” claims for generally the same reasons set forth in his opinion. However, those same basic principles also compel us, at least in the procedural posture of the Kumetses’ appeal, to render judgment dismissing the Kumetses’ claims for relief under health and safety code section 242.1135 based on alleged retaliation. Because both of my colleagues reach a contrary conclusion, I respectfully dissent to that portion of this Court’s judgment.

The TMLA’s expert-report requirement applies to a “claimant” “[i]n a health care liability claim”(HCLC).*fn1 See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 74.351(a) (West 2011). The TMLA defines an HCLC as: 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.