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April 11, 2006

Ohio Supreme Court | Ohio First District | U.S. 6th Circuit - Ohio | U.S. 6th Circuit - Other States
 

TOPICS:
- Civil rights
- False Claims Act
 

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U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals:  Ohio Cases

 

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U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals: Other States Cases

 

Gregory v. Louisville (April 11, 2006) Appeal from W.D. Kentucky
-  http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/06a0127p-06.pdf
-  Plaintiff, William Thomas Gregory, and Defendants cross appeal March 29, 2004 and June 22, 2004 orders entered by the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky which ruled on the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment in this action by Plaintiff for violations of his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and various state laws. The orders below dismissed Plaintiff's claims entirely against the municipal and supervisory Defendants, denied other Defendants absolute or qualified immunity, and dismissed certain claims as unsupported by the record. For the reasons set forth below, this Court AFFIRMS in part and REVERSES in part the orders of the district court.

USA v. Diabetes Treatment (April 11, 2006) Appeal from Tennessee
-  http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/06a0128p-06.pdf
-  Appellants West Paces Medical Center ("West Paces") and HCA, Inc. ("HCA") appeal a discovery order issued by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in the case of United States ex rel. Pogue v. Diabetes Treatment Centers of America, Inc. Plaintiff-appellee Scott Pogue brought suit under the under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq., alleging that various financial incentive arrangements between health care providers and referring physicians violate federal law. Pogue's case was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (the "Tennessee district court"). On October 26, 2000, the Pogue case was transferred by the Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation ("JPMDL"), along with related cases from at least ten other districts, for consolidated pretrial proceedings before Judge Royce C. Lamberth in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (the "D.C. district court"). West Paces, a hospital, was one of the original defendants in the Pogue case, but had the claims against it dismissed on May 27, 2004, pursuant to a settlement agreement. The Pogue case continues, however, against Diabetes Treatment Centers of America, Inc. ("DTCA"). HCA, a health care provider with approximately 191 affiliated hospitals worldwide, wholly owns West Paces. Pogue maintains that both West Paces and other HCA-owned hospitals maintained illegal relationships with DTCA. In addition to being the corporate parent of West Paces and the corporate parent of other hospitals allegedly connected to DTCA, HCA is itself a party defendant in many of the other multi-district litigation ("MDL") cases that have been consolidated before Judge Lamberth along with the Pogue case. The consolidated litigation is collectively captioned In re Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. Qui Tam Litigation, No. 10-MS-50 (JPMDL No. 1307). Despite these connections, HCA has never technically been a party to the Pogue case. During discovery, HCA inadvertently disclosed certain documents to Pogue. Before Pogue could copy the documents, however, HCA recovered them and asserted that it would not reproduce them because they were privileged attorney-client communications. The district court's order, which forms the basis of this appeal, compels HCA to turn over to Pogue the previously disclosed documents and further orders that any privilege over the subject matter of the disclosed documents has been waived. For the following reasons, we dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

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