Minnie Long v. HCA Health Svcs dba Southern Hills Medical Center

This appeal involves a personal injury sustained by the plaintiff while a patient at defendant's nursing home facility. The plaintiff filed suit against the defendant for negligence and the case proceeded to trial before a jury. During the trial, the defendant filed several motions for a directed verdict, which were denied. The trial resulted in a hung jury and the court was forced to declare a mistrial. Before the second trial, the defendant renewed its motion for directed verdict. The court ruled that the plaintiff's cause of action should be considered a claim for medical malpractice, but that the plaintiff made out a prima facie case. The plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the suit before the second trial took place and the defendant motioned the court for discretionary costs. The court awarded the defendant only some of the requested costs and this appeal followed. For the following reasons, we affirm the decisions of the trial court to deny defendant's last motion for a directed verdict and to award only partial discretionary costs.