FORT WORTH – A three-judge appeals court panel affirmed summary judgment on July 28 for a medical spinal implant distributor, Xtant Medical, Inc., which sued Texas General Hospital GP, LLC for not paying for several devices.
Justice Julie Countiss of the Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas wrote the opinion while Judges Evelyn Keyes and Gordon Goodman affirmed. The judges first sided with the 17th District Court in Tarrant County that Xtant Medical was owed summary judgment because the hospital failed to respond to Xtant’s motion for summary judgment in the lower court.
While Texas General said it did not respond and failed to attend the hearing because of a clerical error, the appeals court judges sided against it.
Texas First District Court of Appeals Justice Julie Countiss
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“Because Texas General did not respond to Xtant’s summary-judgment motion and sought no relief from the summary judgment in the trial court, we hold that nothing is before us for review,” wrote Judge Countiss.
Texas General also said that there are still issues of material fact at hand concerning Xtant’s allegations that were released in a previous settlement agreement. The hospital alleged this was enough to reverse the summary judgment against it, but the judges disagreed with this argument as well.
“Texas General does not cite anything in the appellate record showing that it presented this issue to the trial court, and we find no evidence of a settlement agreement before the trial court,” wrote Judge Countiss as she and Justices Goodman and Keyes sided with Xtant.
Xtant first sued, alleging it had an agreement with Texas General for the implants used during spinal surgeries. Texas General stopped paying for the implants, ultimately owing $588,780 in back payments.
Xtant sued for breach of contract, on a sworn account, and for quantum meruit. The distributor filed for summary judgment stating that it had enough proof that Texas General owed the money.