PORT ANGELES — Dr. Robert Witham’s antitrust lawsuit against Olympic Medical Center and Olympic Hospitalist Physicians is expected to reach a key juncture by Nov. 2 under an unwritten rule governing federal court procedures.
Federal Western District Court Judge Robert Bryan will likely decide by Nov. 2 on whether Witham’s singled federal antitrust and two state Consumer Protection Act claims have merit, should be dismissed or should be explored further in oral arguments in his Tacoma courtroom, Witham’s lawyer, Cristofer Leffler of Seattle, said Thursday.
The lawsuit also asserts OMC engaged in “commercial disparagement” against Witham and interfered in “a contractual relationship and business expectations,” claims that Bryan will not rule on.
“We expect to hear within 30 days,” Leffler said.
“If we haven’t heard within 45 days, we’ll call the clerk’s office to remind them it’s pending,” he added.
“There’s no actual rule. It’s just a rule of thumb we use.”
OMC had requested on Aug. 21 that Bryan dismiss the Port Angeles medical oncologist’s claim for unspecified damages under the Sherman Antitrust Act.
On Oct. 2, the publicly-funded hospital — the main component of Clallam County Hospital District 2, which has 1,050 employees — rebutted Witham’s response to the motion to dismiss the claims.
Rebuttal started clock
OMC’s rebuttal started the 30-day clock within which Bryan will issue a ruling that could uphold or gut Witham’s lawsuit.
In its Oct. 2 response, the hospital said governments and tax-funded “municipal corporations” such as the hospital are immune from suits filed under federal antitrust laws and the state Consumer Protection Act, calling Witham’s arguments “bizarre” and “misguided.”
In a separate response to the suit, Olympic Hospitalist Physicians, a Washington corporation, asserts that Witham’s charges of anti-competitive behavior are “patently false” and “reflective of plaintiff’s desire to displace the blame for the consequences of his own conduct upon others.”
Witham’s charges amount to “a sweeping, self-serving indictment of his peers’ integrity and professionalism,” the group said.
“The simple truth of the matter is that plaintiff over the years has alienated a substantial number of the other medical professionals in and around Clallam County,” the response said.
Witham’s lawyer, health law specialist Robert Meals of Langley, requested the presentation of oral arguments before Bryan.
Novel argument
Meals conceded that the argument challenging the legal immunity of governments is “novel.”
“When you have a government hospital, as OMC’s legal status is, as opposed to a community, tax-exempt hospital or a private hospital, that’s when you look at the competitive picture,” Meals said.
“We should not allow them to do that as a government hospital, to just create a monopoly without the extra authority from the state of Washington, which they certainly don’t have.
“That is a novel question, and we are asking the judge to make a call on that. Is this legal? Do they get to run crazy here and charge whatever prices they want without expressed permission from the state of Washington? We’ll see.”
Long-simmering dispute
Filed July 8, the lawsuit brings to a head Witham’s long-simmering dispute with the hospital over access to cancer treatment facilities and allegations that hospital has been maligning his name.
Witham funded an ad-campaign in 2004 that outlined those charges, resulting in packed hospital commission meetings, dozens of letters to the Peninsula Daily News and, finally, an agreement under which Witham saw patients at the Olympic Medical Cancer Center in Sequim.
In the lawsuit, he makes claims similar to those he made five years ago.
Hospital employees made “false reports” about him and steered patients away from his practice, costing him “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” according to the lawsuit.
Witham is seeking unspecified damages equal to three times his actual damages, suggesting he is seeking upward of $1 million or more.
The tripling formula is contained in antitrust laws cited by Witham in his lawsuit, Leffler said, adding he did not know the amount of actual damages.
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
