The Court of Appeals was asked to determine whether Plaintiffs, in maintaining their cause of action, satisfied the requirements of the Health Care Malpractice Claims Act ("HCMCA"), a statute that requires arbitration of certain claims filed against health care providers. In particular, Dr. Berger argued that Plaintiffs failed to file a sufficient certificate of qualified expert, a document that the HCMCA typically requires. In response, Plaintiffs contended that their certificate was sufficient that Dr. Berger waived his challenge to the certificate sufficiency, or that there was good cause to allow them to file a sufficient certificate even though the deadline for filing a certificate had passed.

The Court first held that the certificate was insufficient, but only because it failed to include a report of the attesting expert, as the HCMCA requires. A report is insufficient if it does not include the applicable standard of care in how or why the defendant allegedly departed from it. The certificate adequately identified the individual who allegedly violated the standard of care, and it need not state that the expert satisfies the HCMCA's 20 percent rule or that the expert's opinions are stated to a reasonable degree of medical probability. Second, the Court held that Dr. Berger did not waive his challenge to the sufficiency of the Plaintiffs' certificate. Finally, the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied the Plaintiffs' request for a good cause extension.