MEDICAL CARE PROVIDER PAYS DOCTOR $600,000 TO SETTLE LAWSUIT

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In the media:

Facts of the case:

Defendant Medical Care Provider offered to pay Dr. John Doe $600,000 to settle his lawsuit before the second day of his deposition was to resume.  Dr. Doe is a foreign doctor and medical specialist, who as a specialist in his field has been published multiple times.  Prior to this, he had been practicing at offices located within the same Medical Care Provider for over 15 years, where he treated and cared for cancer patients.

Although highly skilled in his medical specialty, Dr. Doe believed his religion and national origin were causing issues with others in the facility and had now become obvious factors in the ongoing discrimination and harassment he was suffering.  These issues eventually resulted in his suspension from Defendant Medical Care Provider.  Upon suspending Dr. Doe, the facility contacted all of his patients and directed them to other doctors in their network.  They then quickly rescinded the suspension after contacting the patients and returned Dr. Doe to work with a letter saying he was “safe to return”.  Once Dr. Doe started to rebuild his practice and patients list, Defendant Medical Care Provider locked-out Dr. Doe from the facility, which prevented him from caring and treating his cancer patients.  Then Defendant Medical Care Provider contacted all of Dr. Doe’s patients and directed them to other doctors in their network before the next business day, and before he could contact an attorney.

Plaintiff’s counsel immediately filed a motion and argued a preliminary hearing to protect Dr. Doe’s rights to practice and his patients’ rights to get the treatment they chose, and that only he could provide.  After an eight (8) day hearing, the Judge issued a Preliminary Injunctive Order ordering Defendant Medical Care Provider to stop interfering, bring back Dr. Doe and allow him to re-enter the facility and practice without anymore interruptions per the lease agreement.  Unfortunately, Defendants had already contacted all of Dr. Doe’s patients, and directed them to other doctors in their network, such that irreparable damage had been done. Dr. Doe returned to a pilfered practice, and eventually had to leave our community, and is now practicing in another state, making approximately $550,000 per year, which is about what he was making with Defendant Medical Care Provider.

Despite Defendant Medical Care Provider paying $600,000 to settle the lawsuit, the real losers in this fiasco are the patients in Michigan with cancer, who will no longer have an experienced expert such as Dr. Doe to treat and care for them.

Summary of the case:

Type of Action: Breach of Express Contract, Implied-in-Fact Contract, Promissory Estoppel, Unjust Enrichment, ELCRA Discrimination/Opposition/Retaliation, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Invasion of Privacy, Violations of Revised Judicature Act of 1961, Act. 236, Including MCLA 600.2918, and Tortious Interference with a Contract or Advantageous Relationship or Expectancy
 
Injuries Alleged:    Breach of contract, lost income, outrage/emotional distress/mental anguish, damage to professional reputation
Name of Case:    Dr. John Doe, et al v. Medical Care Provider, et al
Court:    Confidential
Case No:    Confidential
Name of Judge:    Confidential
Settlement:    $600,000
Key To Winning:    Plaintiff’s Counsel was able to objectively show that Defendants locked Dr. Doe out of the facility, thereby breaching the contract between them and Dr. Doe.
Attorney for Plaintiff:    Tom R. Pabst, Michael A. Kowalko and Jarrett M. Pabst
Attorney for Defendants:    Withheld