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Inside District Court


to introduce writings or records without the support of a health care provider’s testimony (§ 10-104 notice), along with certificate of service. You must also, at least 60 days before trial, serve the § 10-104 notice and all of the medical records and bills (collectively, § 10-104 packet) on all other parties to the action. Tere is a separate procedure for filing a rebuttal as outlined in § 10-104 (c) (2), that will be addressed infra. Te § 10-104 notice filed as a pleading must contain “a list that identifies each writing or record.” § 10-104 (c) (1) (ii) (2). Te statute does not provide a sample, but generally, the § 10-104 notice should read like a table of contents. One should provide the name of the medical provider, the date or dates of service, and the amount of each bill. Because each provider will likely have both bills and records, it is generally a good idea to list the bills separately from the records. Te § 10-104 notice may indicate, for example, that pages 1-5 consist of Shady Grove Adventist Hospital Records, with a date of service of January 1, 2012, but will not list any medical bill amount, whereas the next line may indicate pages 6-7 consist of Shady Grove Adventist Hospital bills, with a date of service of January 1, 2012, and then lists $2,000.00 as the billed amount. When preparing the § 10-104 it is important list the full amount billed and not the balance owed, reduced by payment from a collateral source. Although not specifically


required by the statute, as a practitioner’s note, it is also very important to include page numbers. Some District Court judges will refuse to accept a § 10-104 packet into evidence without them. Inasmuch as § 10-104 does not state specifically how one


should provide the “list that identifies each writing or record,” you will see variance among attorneys on how the information is provided. Some attorneys state the name of the medical provider but only include a date range for the date of service, e.g., “January 2, 2012 to March 5, 2012.” Although I have never seen a


§10-104 notice or packet excluded for listing a


date range, it may be more prudent to actually list each date of service, for example: “January 2, 2012; January 16; 2012; February 6, 2012.” It is questionable whether the § 10-104 notice truly identifies the writing or record if it includes a date range; however, it would also be very difficult for a defendant to claim that she was not placed on proper notice considering she would have received the corresponding bills and records with the notice. It is also important to remember that the court should not receive a copy of the medical records with the notice, this helps to maintain your clients’ privacy. Although not specifically required under § 10-104, it is a


good practice to file the § 10-104 notice with the Complaint. Particularly in District Court, there is a chance that you will receive an initial trial date less than or close to 60 days from the date you filed your Complaint. If this happens, you will not be able to meet the requirement of § 10-104 that you file your notice at least 60 days before trial. Filing the § 10- 104 notice with the Complaint also reduces your chances of forgetting to file the § 10-104 notice altogether, which would yield disastrous results at trial and leave you completely unable to enter medical records or bills into evidence. As the statute requires a notice of service, one should indicate to the court that the § 10-104 notice and packet “will be served along with the Complaint and Summons on the Plaintiff.”


Benefits and Limitations of § 10-104 Before deciding to use § 10-104 to enter your client’s


bills and records into evidence at trial, you should explain to your client the benefits and limitations of using § 10-104. Te client must understand that she is making a trade; she will not have to pay several thousand dollars to a medical provider to appear in court or by video, but she will not be able to recover greater than $30,000.00. Tis conversation should be very similar to the one you have when choosing between District and Circuit Court, or when deciding whether to protect the client from a potential jury prayer by filing a Complaint with an ad damnum of $15,000.00 or less. Some practitioners obtain written consent from their clients


28 Trial Reporter / Summer 2012


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