In its big orders list last August, the Texas Supreme Court decided Marks v. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, No. 07-0783 (docket and briefs) a case about the reach of Texas’s medical-malpractice statute.

The question was framed whether an injury caused by a defective hospital bed was covered by that statute or whether, instead, it was a question of premises liability. I wrote about the case in this previous blog post.

Divided 5-4, the Texas Supreme Court held that this narrow claim was not covered by the medical-malpractice statute and thus the plaintiff was exempted from the added requirements (such as the ever-popular expert report requirement).

Justice Medina wrote for the five-vote majority. Four Justices joined three dissents. Chief Justice Jefferson also wrote a concurrence.

Justice Brister, who is no longer on the Court, was a member of the five-Justice majority.

The Court’s order today does not set the case for re-argument; all it does is extend the Court’s time to act beyond the 180-day limit on motions for rehearing that I have written about in the past.