Hahn Loeser Partner, Peter M. Katsaros, secured a defense verdict in favor of his client, Northwest Community Hospital, against a plaintiff seeking $15,000,000 in damages. Hahn Loeser’s trial team included Kelsey L. Smith, Nevenka Whitworth and Barb Szynalik. The four-week trial featured seven experts, including five for the plaintiff, a general surgeon.
In this dispute, the plaintiff sued the hospital after it withdrew plaintiff’s clinical privileges. The plaintiff filed a 14-count complaint in federal court in 2013 for alleged violations of federal antitrust laws, Title VII, business torts, defamation and breach of the hospital’s staff physician by-laws.
Multiple Courts and Claims Over Many Years
Hahn Loeser defended the Title VII federal claim in Chicago and in the 7th Circuit, winning the dismissal of the Title VII claim by May of 2019. Nine state law claims were litigated in the state court in Chicago beginning in 2016. Four claims remained for a jury trial starting on October 17, 2022.
Northwest Community Hospital filed 24 in limine motions winning 80 percent of them. Several of those successful motions stripped the plaintiff of evidence for defamation and false light claims and damages for alleged breach of staff physician by-laws. The sole remaining claim for injunctive relief for breach of staff physician bylaws was tried between October 31, 2022, and November 10, 2022. The defense verdict included a finding that allows Northwest Community Hospital to file a fee petition to recover over $3 million in fees and costs from the plaintiff.
