A Few Legal Notes

A few interesting stories today.

First:

An Indianapolis doctor awarded $1.025 million in defamation damages against CVS after a federal jury trial lost it all Thursday when the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision.

The judgment for Dr. Anthony Mimms was vacated by the Chicago appellate panel that found District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt erred in allowing three allegedly defamatory comments regarding Mimms to be tried to a jury. The 7^th Circuit also concluded that CVS was entitled to a new trial on the fourth and final allegedly defamatory statement.

The award for Mimms in January 2017 came after CVS workers allegedly told patients that his prescriptions were no longer being filled for various reasons. Mimms’ patients said they were refused prescriptions at Greenfield, McCordsville, and Rushville CVS stores after pharmacists and technicians at those stores said he was running a pill mill; he had gone to jail; he had been or would be arrested; and that he was under investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

The 7th Circuit said the first three of those remarks never should have been tried to the jury. CVS was entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law on those comments, because Mimms provided no evidence they were made with actual malice, the standard for defamation under Indiana law.

Heaven forbid I say something critical about Dr. Mimms . . . I don't have $1m sitting around to pay him in case his "fee-fees" get hurt. Also, how the hell does a stray comment from someone cause $1m in damages? Anyway.

There's also this today:

A medical malpractice suit filed against a doctor who reported his suspicions of child abuse to the Department of Child Services will proceed after the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state’s anti-SLAPP laws do not apply to this case.
Justices reversed a Marion Superior Court’s dismissal of the case under state laws against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. Indiana’s high court found the anti-SLAPP laws enacted in 1998 as a shield against lawsuits targeting speech protected under the First Amendment provide no defense to Dr. Cortney Demetris in this case.
Demetris was the attending physician when Stacey and Derek VanWinkle’s daughter A.V. was admitted for observation. Demetris concluded A.V. suffered from medical child abuse — formerly known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy — in which a child receives unnecessary and potentially risky treatment due to false reporting by a parent or caregiver.

Demetris reported his suspicions to the Department of Child Services, which removed the VanWinkles’ children from their home and substantiated allegations of abuse, which were later reversed by the trial court. The VanWinkles then filed a malpractice claim against Demetris, which was dismissed by the trial court — a decision that was reversed by the Indiana Court of Appeals. 

Do we really have a society that operates in such bad faith? Sadly, the answer is "Yes. Yes we do."

I could go on with stories about stupid lawsuits, but perhaps two is enough for one day.