These are consolidated appeals from two interlocutory orders denying motions to dismiss under the Texas Medical Liability Act. Many questions have been presented, but we only consider one of them: whether a county is a “person” at common law. Our answer is “no.” BACKGROUND This case comes to us from the multidistrict litigation arising out of the opioid crisis. Dallas County and Bexar County sued a number of manufacturers, distributors, and retail pharmacies of prescription opioids. As to the Pharmacies, only certain of which are before us now,[1] the Counties asserted a variety of claims, including that the Pharmacies were negligent and violated their standard of care in their dispensing of opioids. Broadly speaking, the Counties alleged that the Pharmacies dispensed the opioids while systematically ignoring red flags indicating that the opioids were being abused and diverted into secondary, criminal markets. In two separate motions, the Pharmacies argued that the Counties’ claims should be dismissed because the claims were health care liability claims and the Counties had not served them with expert reports within 120 days of their original answers, as required by the TMLA. The Counties filed responses, arguing several reasons for why the TMLA did not apply. The MDL court agreed with the Counties without stating its reasoning and denied both of the Pharmacies’ motions. The Pharmacies then brought these interlocutory appeals of the MDL court’s orders, which we consolidated. ANALYSIS A claimant asserting a health care liability claim must serve each defendant physician or health care provider with an expert report providing a fair summary of the expert’s opinion regarding the applicable standard of care, the manner in which the defendant breached the standard of care, and the causal relationship between the failure and the injury, harm, or damages claimed. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 74.351(a). If the claimant fails to serve the expert report within the time allotted by the TMLA, then the claimant’s health care liability claim is subject to dismissal. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 74.351(b). There is no dispute here that the Counties did not serve the Pharmacies with an expert report. But the Counties contend that the TMLA does not apply for various reasons, including that the Counties are not claimants within the meaning of the TMLA, that their claims are not health care liability claims, and that the Pharmacies are not physicians or health care providers. We only consider the first of these arguments. And because that argument raises a matter of statutory interpretation, our review is de novo. See Marks v. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hosp., 319 S.W.3d 658, 663 (Tex. 2010). The TMLA defines a claimant as “a person, including a decedent’s estate, seeking or who has sought recovery of damages in a health care liability claim.” See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 74.001(a)(2). All parties agree that the Counties are not a “decedent’s estate,” but they disagree as to whether the Counties qualify as a “person.” The Pharmacies refer us to the Code Construction Act, which instructs us that the word “person” includes a “government or governmental subdivision,” such as a county. See Tex. Gov’t Code § 311.005(2). But that statutory definition is qualified. It applies “unless the statute or context in which the word or phrase is used requires a different definition.” See Tex. Gov’t Code § 311.005. That qualification is triggered here because the word “person” is an undefined “legal term or word of art,” and the TMLA provides that such words must be construed according to the common law. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 74.001(b) (“Any legal term or word of art used in this chapter, not otherwise defined in this chapter, shall have such meaning as is consistent with the common law.”); Tex. W. Oaks Hosp., LP v. Williams, 371 S.W.3d 171, 178 (Tex. 2012) (“Person is not defined in the TMLA and therefore must be given its common law meaning.”). We normally discern a word’s common law meaning by referring to the body of law derived from judicial decisions. See Lyda Swinerton Builders, Inc. v. Cathay Bank, 409 S.W.3d 221, 243 n.19 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2013, pet. denied). But we can also consider the definitions compiled in Black’s Law Dictionary. See Coming Attractions Bridal & Formal, Inc. v. Tex. Health Res., 595 S.W.3d659, 663n.8(Tex. 2020) (considering that dictionary when deciding whether a corporation was included within the common law meaning of person). Black’s Law Dictionary contains three entries for the word “person”: 1. A human being. 2. An entity (such as a corporation) that is recognized by law as having the rights and duties of a human being. 3. The living body of a human being
