Implications for Expert Report Requirements in Family Law Cases after Service Animal Liability Ruling

Maurice N. Leibman M.D. v. Cleveratta Waldroup and James Waldroup, Individually and as Next Friends of R.W., a Minor, 23-0317, June 06, 2025.

On appeal from Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas

Synopsis

The Supreme Court of Texas held that claims against a physician who issued letters supporting a patient’s use of a service animal were not health-care-liability claims because the alleged negligent act—failing to evaluate the dog’s temperament—did not involve a claimed departure from accepted standards of medical care applicable here. The trial court and court of appeals were affirmed.

Relevance to Family Law

Family-law practitioners who litigate custody, visitation, or divorce disputes increasingly confront disputes implicating medical letters, disability accommodations, and service/emotional-support animal certifications. This decision narrows the universe of claims that trigger expert-report requirements under the HCLC statute in contexts where the alleged wrongful act concerns nonclinical or non-treatment-related conduct by a health-care provider—e.g., certification of accommodations or nonmedical assertions—thereby affecting pleading strategy, removal/dismissal tactics, and timing of expert retention in family cases.

Case Summary

Fact Summary

A three-year-old child was severely injured when a dog wearing a “Service Animal” vest attacked her in a restaurant. The dog’s owner produced letters from her former physician, Dr. Maurice Leibman, indicating that service animals helped manage her generalized anxiety disorder. The plaintiffs conceded the doctor’s medical judgment that the owner suffered from anxiety and that animals helped her; their claims focused instead on Dr. Leibman’s alleged failure to take steps to determine whether the registered dog was actually an appropriately trained service animal. The plaintiffs sued for negligence and aiding-and-abetting, alleging that the doctor’s conduct enabled the owner to present the dog as a service animal and that this proximately caused the child’s injuries. Dr. Leibman moved to dismiss, arguing the claims were health-care-liability claims (HCLCs) requiring a timely medical expert report.

Issues Decided

The Court decided (1) whether the Waldroups’ claims against Dr. Leibman were HCLCs subject to the expert-report requirement of Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 74.351, and (2) whether the plaintiffs had standing to sue Dr. Leibman—that is, whether their injuries were fairly traceable to his alleged conduct and redressable by the courts.

Rules Applied

The Court applied the statutory definition and framework for health-care-liability claims under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 74.001(a)(13) and 74.351, and required that an HCLC allege a “claimed departure from accepted standards of medical care” that is “applicable” to the defendant’s conduct. The Court also applied standing principles requiring a concrete injury fairly traceable to defendant conduct that a favorable decision would redress, relying on Texas and U.S. precedent addressing traceability and redressability in tort suits.

Application

The Court framed the inquiry as whether the plaintiffs’ asserted theory of liability necessarily involved a substantive claim that Dr. Leibman departed from accepted standards of medical care applicable to his medical practice. The alleged negligent act was not a misdiagnosis or incompetence in treating the owner’s anxiety; rather, it was the physician’s failure to verify nonmedical facts about the dog’s temperament and training before issuing certification letters. Because those verification steps implicated conduct outside the accepted standards of medical care applicable to the physician’s medical judgment about the patient’s condition, the Court concluded the claims were not “inseparable from the rendition of health care.” The Court also reviewed standing, finding that the child’s injury was the sort of redressable harm cognizable in tort and that, although the causal link to the doctor’s conduct was close, the record and briefing supported traceability such that jurisdiction existed.

Holding

The Supreme Court held that the plaintiffs’ negligence and aiding-and-abetting claims against Dr. Leibman did not constitute health-care-liability claims under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 74.001(a)(13) because the asserted negligent act—failing to evaluate the dog’s temperament—did not amount to a claimed departure from accepted standards of medical care applicable in this case. Consequently, the expert-report requirement of § 74.351 did not apply, and the trial court’s denial of Dr. Leibman’s HCLC dismissal motion was affirmed. The Court also held that the Waldroups had standing to sue Dr. Leibman: the child’s injuries were concrete and redressable, and the record supported a sufficiently traceable causal connection to the doctor’s alleged conduct.

Practical Application

For family-law litigation, this decision is a roadmap for both plaintiffs and defendants when medical providers’ non-treatment conduct intersects family disputes. Plaintiffs should consider framing claims against physicians in family matters around nonmedical acts—certifications, attestations, or administrative misstatements—that permit avoidance of § 74.351’s expert-report gatekeeping. Defendants who are health-care providers should evaluate early whether the challenged conduct is tied to diagnosis or treatment (which would likely trigger HCLC rules) versus nonclinical certifications (which may not). Custody and visitation disputes that hinge on assertions of disability, use of service or emotional-support animals, or accommodations based on physician letters must be pled with attention to whether the alleged wrongful act is disciplinary/clinical or administrative/fact-verifying; that characterization can determine whether a medical expert report is required and, accordingly, influence timing, preservation, and dismissal strategy.

Checklists

Gather Your Evidence

• Collect all letters, certifications, and correspondence the provider issued.
• Preserve communications showing the provider’s basis for issuing letters (medical records, notes, intake forms).
• Obtain records showing the dog’s registration, training documentation, and third-party certifications.
• Document the owner’s representations to third parties (restaurants, landlords, courts) about the dog.

Plead Strategically

• If you are the plaintiff seeking to avoid HCLC treatment, plead the defendant’s negligent acts as nonmedical (verification of training/temperament, misstatements about accommodations), and reserve alternative theories that may trigger HCLC only if necessary.
• If you are defending under HCLC, plead that the claim is inseparable from medical judgment, identify the specific medical standard allegedly breached, and demand a report if applicable.

Expert-Report Planning

• Plaintiffs should analyze early whether the claim implicates standards of medical care; if there is any danger it might, retain a medical expert to opine on scope and applicable standards proactively.
• Defendants should prepare to move under § 74.351 promptly if the claim appears to require an expert report, and preserve evidence that the challenged act constituted medical judgment.

Discovery and Evidence Preservation

• Propound discovery targeting nonmedical verification steps (what, if any, temperamental or training evaluations the physician undertook).
• Subpoena medical records and any communications with third-party registries or training entities.
• Preserve social-media or registration-website evidence of the dog’s status and public representations.

Client Counseling Points

• Advise family-law clients that letters from physicians can have legal consequences beyond medical treatment (custody, housing, access).
• Warn healthcare-provider clients that nonclinical certifications can create liability risks distinct from their clinical practice, and recommend policies for issuance of accommodation letters.

Citation

Maurice N. Leibman, M.D. v. Cleveratta Waldroup and James Waldroup, Individually and as Next Friends of R.W., a Minor, No. 23-0317, Supreme Court of Texas (June 6, 2025).

Full Opinion

Full opinion (Supreme Court of Texas, June 6, 2025)