Burns v. Boyden

2006 UT 14, 133 P.3d 370, 2006 WL 509787
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 3, 2006
Docket20050039
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 2006 UT 14 (Burns v. Boyden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burns v. Boyden, 2006 UT 14, 133 P.3d 370, 2006 WL 509787 (Utah 2006).

Opinion

DURRANT, Justice:

¶ 1 This case presents two distinct issues: (1) whether Dr. Brian D. Burns may claim the physician-patient privilege as a shield against a state investigation into his allegedly fraudulent billing practices, and (2) whether a secrecy order obtained by the State respecting this investigation is constitutional. As to the first issue, rule 506 of the Utah Rules of Evidence provides a physician presumptive authority to claim the physician-patient privilege “on behalf of the patient.” We hold that the State has rebutted this presumption by demonstrating that Burns is asserting the privilege not on behalf of his patients but for his own benefit. As to the second issue, Utah law allows the State, with approval and oversight from a district court, to conduct a criminal investigation in secret. Despite the secrecy order obtained by the State, Burns has adequate information about the investigation, and there are adequate procedural safeguards in place to effectively protect Burns’s constitutional rights.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 The Workers’ Compensation Fund filed a complaint with the Salt Lake County Attorney’s Office in response to what it believed were fraudulent billing practices employed by the chiropractic clinics owned and operated by Burns. The complaint was subsequently referred to the Attorney General’s Office, Department of Insurance, Fraud Division, which submitted an application to the district court for an order to open a formal investigation pursuant to the Subpoena Powers for Aid of Criminal Investigation and Grants of Immunity Act (“Subpoena Powers Act”), Utah Code Ann. §§ 77-22-1 to -5 (2003). The application included a statement of good cause setting forth the facts necessary to support the investigation and a request for an order of secrecy.

¶ 3 The Subpoena Powers Act provides that a district court may allow an order of secrecy upon a “reasonable likelihood that publicly releasing information ... would pose a threat of harm to a person or otherwise impede the investigation.” Id. § 77-22-2(6)(a)(i). The Attorney General argued that secrecy was justified because “publicly releasing information about the identity of this witness or the substance of the evidence regarding patients, providers, medical billing and records ... would pose a threat of harm to a person or would otherwise impede the criminal investigation due to the potential confidential nature of some of the matters in question.” The State specifically noted the following: (1) Burns was in litigation with a former employee, and other employee-witnesses feared that cooperation with the investigation would lead to their own litigation with Burns; (2) many witnesses were still employed by Burns, and the State wished to avoid communication between witnesses; and (3) the State wished to protect Burns’s reputation pending criminal charges as well as the names of his patients.

¶ 4 The district court authorized both the investigation and the secrecy order. The secrecy order required that the occurrence of interrogations, the identity of those subpoenaed, the testimony records, and other subpoenaed evidence remain secret. The order further excluded everyone from investigative hearings except for the State’s attorneys and their staff, others necessary to assist the investigative process, the court reporter, the witness, and the witness’s attorneys. The secrecy order specifically permitted the disclosure of its own existence but did not expressly permit the disclosure of the application, good cause affidavit, or authorization *374 order. The secrecy order also permitted the Attorney General’s Office to disclose information obtained during the investigation “for the purpose of furthering any official governmental investigation” or “when necessary for the State to comply with Utah Rule of Criminal Procedure 16 or any other obligation to disclose evidence to any such defendant before trial.”

¶ 5 Subsequently, the State served Burns with a subpoena duces tecum, which sought the production of “[a]U medical and billing records related to the treatment” of over 300 patients and ordered Burns to appear and give sworn testimony. Burns moved to quash the subpoena, arguing that (1) the subpoena duces tecum violated the physician-patient privilege, and (2) the secrecy order violated his due process rights. After a hearing, Judge Boyden denied the motion to quash, ruling that the physician-patient privilege did “not apply at this stage” and that the secrecy order did not violate Burns’s due process rights. Burns subsequently produced the requested records and then filed the present motion for extraordinary relief to compel Judge Boyden to vacate her denial of the motion to quash. This court has jurisdiction under Utah Code section 78-2-2(2) (2002).

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 6 This case is before us on a petition requesting extraordinary relief. Such petitions are governed by rule 65B of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, which provides that extraordinary relief may be available “[w]here no other plain, speedy, and adequate remedy is available.” Utah R. Civ. P. 65B(a). Burns claims that he is eligible for rule 65B relief because he is not statutorily entitled to an appeal from the denial of his motion to quash, and “an inferior court ... has exceeded its jurisdiction or abused its discretion.” Id. 65(d)(2). Both the existence of a privilege and the application of constitutional protections are questions of law, so we afford no deference to the district court’s conclusions. Riddle v. Perry, 2002 UT 10, ¶ 6, 40 P.3d 1128 (“[T]he existence of a privilege is a question of law .... ” (internal quotation marks omitted)); Chen v. Stewart, 2004 UT 82, ¶ 25, 100 P.3d 1177 (“Constitutional issues ... are questions of law [reviewed] for correctness.”). Ultimately, to determine whether rule 65B relief is appropriate, we must determine whether the district court made a mistake of law on either of these two questions that led it to abuse its discretion. See State v. Barrett, 2005 UT 88, ¶¶ 15-17, 127 P.3d 682.

ANALYSIS

¶ 7 Burns raises two main issues in his petition for extraordinary relief: (1) whether he may claim the physician-patient privilege to prevent disclosure of patient records to the State in the investigation into his allegedly fraudulent billing practices, and (2) whether a secrecy order obtained by the State respecting this investigation is constitutional. We will discuss each of these issues in turn.

I. BURNS MAY NOT CLAIM THE PHYSICIAN-PATIENT PRIVILEGE FOR HIS OWN BENEFIT

¶ 8 Burns argues that his patient records are protected from discovery under the physician-patient privilege. The district court held that the physician-patient privilege does not apply during a criminal investigation under the Subpoena Powers Act. The State now concedes that the privilege applies during such a criminal investigation but argues that there is an exception to the privilege where there are allegations of insurance fraud. We will address each of these arguments below, and then, because we hold that the physician-patient privilege applies to a criminal investigation under the Subpoena Powers Act and that there is no insurance fraud exception to the privilege, we will discuss whether the State has rebutted Burns’s presumptive authority to claim the privilege.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Buttars
2020 UT App 87 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2020)
NPEC v. Miller
2019 UT App 175 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2019)
Ross v. Ross
2019 UT App 104 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2019)
Clean Harbors Environmental v. Labor Commission
2019 UT App 52 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2019)
Arreguin-Leon v. Hadco Construction
2018 UT App 225 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2018)
Strand v. Nupetco Associates LLC
2017 UT App 55 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2017)
State v. Edgar
2017 UT App 52 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2017)
Gines v. Edwards
2017 UT App 47 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2017)
RJW Media Inc. v. Heath
2017 UT App 34 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2017)
Mower v. Simpson
2017 UT App 23 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2017)
Mota v. Mota
2016 UT App 201 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2016)
State v. Thornton
2014 UT App 265 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2014)
Packer v. Utah Attorney General's Office
2013 UT App 194 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2013)
In re P.D. (E.D. v. State)
2013 UT App 162 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2013)
E.D. v. State
2013 UT App 162 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2013)
Snow v. Hon. Lindberg
2013 UT 15 (Utah Supreme Court, 2013)
Snow, Christensen & Martineau v. Lindberg
2013 UT 15 (Utah Supreme Court, 2013)
Barron v. Labor Commission
2012 UT App 80 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2012)
Clark v. Archer
2010 UT 57 (Utah Supreme Court, 2010)
Arbogast Family Trust v. River Crossings, LLC
2010 UT 40 (Utah Supreme Court, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2006 UT 14, 133 P.3d 370, 2006 WL 509787, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burns-v-boyden-utah-2006.