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Saturday, May 26, 2007

Law - Still more on: Louisville's "Jewish Hospital sues lawyers who unsuccessfully sued it"

Updating these two stories from the past few weeks, Andrew Wolfson of the Louisville Courier Journal reports today:

In an unusual move for a plaintiff in a lawsuit, Jewish Hospital has asked a Jefferson circuit court judge to bar lawyers on either side from discussing its suit against two lawyers who unsuccessfully sued the hospital over allegedly unsanitary conditions.

Responding in court papers, Gary Weiss, who represents one of the lawyers, called the motion hypocritical, noting that the hospital already has twice commented to the media on its suit, including for a story in The Courier-Journal.

"The dread of having press coverage at that time did not dawn on the hospital because one of its media people was all too happy to be freely quoted about the alleged horrors perpetrated on Jewish Hospital by Joe White and Mike O'Connell," Weiss said.

Weiss also claimed the proposed gag order is designed to spare the hospital from ridicule and bad publicity, not to prevent a jury from being tainted, which is why such orders are usually issued. * * *

"It is absurd on its face to believe that candid and honest answers ... could affect Jewish Hospital's right to a fair trial … in 2009 or 2010," Weiss said. * * *

Doug Morris, a veteran plaintiffs' lawyer who is secretary of the Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys and has no connection to the case, said he had never heard of a plaintiff requesting a gag order.

Plaintiffs usually want society "to find out what wrongful conduct has gone on," he said.

Gag orders typically are issued to protect the rights of criminal defendants to a fair trial.

In its motion, filed Thursday, the hospital said such an order is needed in part because of the media interest in the suit. The hospital also cited the "prominent role that the media played in the underlying litigation" and the number of press conferences White and O'Connell held while those cases were pending.

The two lawyers filed 96 lawsuits alleging unsanitary conditions caused infections that led to patient illnesses and deaths.

Of those lawsuits, 84 have been dismissed, most of them after the lawyers said they couldn't afford to continue. Two suits were dismissed by judges on their merits. * * *

In an interview last week, Polson and the hospital's lawyers said they were disappointed that White and O'Connell were trying to re-litigate the underlying cases, which they have already lost.

But the hospital has since been criticized by legal commentators for thinking it could sue the lawyers and not expect them to defend themselves by bringing up the claims they made in their original suits.

Former Carroll County Judge Stan Billingsley said in his Lawreader.com blog on Tuesday that the hospital's managers were "sadly mistaken" or "ill advised" if they expected that.

In an interview, Weiss said the public has a strong interest in following the hospital's suit because it could make it harder in the future to find lawyers willing to take on unpopular, expensive cases.

This is the commentary of former Carroll County Kentucky Judge Stan Billingsley referenced above. For a lot more, see this entry by Michael Stevens of the Kentucky Law Review.

[Updated 5/27/07] Here is another Stevens entry today.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 26, 2007 09:19 AM
Posted to General Law Related