Ditto v. McCurdy No. 02-16252

Janie Ditto won a judgment against her doctor, John McCurdy, for a botched surgery. McCurdy subsequently filed for bankruptcy, and received a discharge from the debt. Ditto lost her argument in the district court that the debt was non-dischargeable as a willful and malicious injury. The Ninth Circuit affirmed. The Ninth Circuit applied recent United States Supreme Court case law which interpreted the bankruptcy provision at issue to require an intent to cause injury.

Therefore even if Ditto had recovered under an intentional tort theory (Ditto argued that the doctor failed to give proper information prior to the surgery), the Ninth Circuit found that the medical malpractice judgment did not meet the willful and malicious definition in the bankruptcy code. AFFIRMED.

Date of decision: 12/14/07

Full opinion click here.