TACOMA — A federal judge has dismissed three of the five claims made by Dr. Robert Witham against Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Bryan on Wednesday ruled that OMC, as part of a public hospital district, is protected from alleged violations of the state Consumer Protection Act and is immune from having to pay damages for alleged violations of the federal Sherman Antitrust Act.
“Today, justice was served,” said OMC attorney Douglas Ross in a written statement.
“Olympic Medical Center is extremely gratified by this ruling.”
In the three claims addressed in the ruling, Witham, a private Port Angeles oncologist, alleged that OMC violated the Sherman Act by attempting to monopolize oncology services, particularly by steering patients to its own staff.
Witham also alleged that the hospital and Olympic Hospitalist Physicians violated the Consumer Protection Act for attempting to create a monopoly and for other unfair competitive practices.
Bryan also rejected Witham’s request for time to amend his complaint and to have the state Supreme Court clarify a law regarding whether a municipal corporation that acted outside its statutory authority is exempt from the state Consumer Protection Act.
Witham said he will proceed with the other two claims not addressed in the ruling — that the hospital district engaged in “commercial disparagement” against him and interfered in “a contractual relationship and business expectations” — and the antitrust claim dealing with the Sherman Act.
“Well, nothing really is surprising” about the ruling, he said in an interview Saturday.
“What is dismissed: the federal claims for damages . . . and the core of my concerns are still there.”
Witham said that the ruling means he can still pursue his claim that OMC has violated the Sherman Act, but he can’t receive monetary compensation.
Bryan’s ruling says that Sherman Act claim is dismissed “only insofar as it relates to damages.”
Witham had requested compensation of an amount “equal to three times the actual damages” for alleged violations of the Sherman Act.
He said he didn’t know what other penalties the Port Angeles medical center could possibly face.
His attorneys could not be reached to further clarify the ruling.
Through the lawsuit, Witham is also seeking that OMC undoes its alleged anti-competitive policies, notifies all medical staff who refer patients to him that it “unlawfully conspired to reduce competition,” address alleged false reports made about Witham to his patients, and inform him when one of his patients is in the emergency room.
Witham practices in both Port Angeles and the Olympia area.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
