Jeckle v. Crotty

120 Wash. App. 374
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedMarch 4, 2004
DocketNo. 21815-5-III
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 120 Wash. App. 374 (Jeckle v. Crotty) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jeckle v. Crotty, 120 Wash. App. 374 (Wash. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Brown, C.J.

— The issue is whether appellant, Milan Jeckle, M.D., has stated any cause of action against the respondent attorneys and law firms that can survive a CR 12(b)(6) motion for failure to state a claim. Dr. Jeckle’s claims involved the conduct of the respondents in obtaining a list of his patients from a medical quality assurance investigation and using it to contact prospective clients [378]*378about joining ongoing suits against him for prescribing the diet drug Fen-Phen (fenfluramine and phentermine). Dr. Jeckle alleged actions under chapter 42.17 RCW, the public disclosure act (PDA); chapter 19.86 RCW, the Consumer Protection Act (CPA); and chapter 70.02 RCW, the Uniform Health Care Information Act (UHCIA), together with general tort claims.

We hold Dr. Jeckle failed to state any cause of action and affirm the dismissal of his suit. However, because the CPA claim presented a reasonable argument in support of an issue of first impression, we disagree with the trial court that all theories were frivolous and, therefore, reverse the trial court’s award of sanctions.

FACTS

In the mid-1990s, a prescription drug known popularly as Fen-Phen was marketed for weight loss. Dr. Jeckle began prescribing it for large numbers of his patients. In 1997, the Mayo Clinic reported Fen-Phen damaged heart valves in a high percentage of users. Washington’s Medical Quality Assurance Commission (Commission) then looked into Dr. Jeckle’s use of the drug in his weight loss clinic. During this process, the Commission’s investigator partly copied 10 of Dr. Jeckle’s patient files. According to Dr. Jeckle, the investigator then determined that the investigation should be closed and no adverse action should be taken against Dr. Jeckle or his clinic by the Commission.

Later, attorney Robert Crotty of the law firm of Lukins and Annis asked the Commission to reopen its investigation. Mr. Crotty represented several plaintiffs who had filed a class action suit against Dr. Jeckle. See Wright v. Jeckle, 104 Wn. App. 478, 480, 16 P.3d 1268 (2001). According to Dr. Jeckle, the Commission had a doctor review the incomplete copies of the 10 files it had in its possession. The reviewing doctor concluded that the investigation should be reopened. In the reopened investigation, the Commission required Dr. Jeckle to provide summaries of all patient files from 1996 [379]*379and 1997. That time period involved 20,000 office visits and 3,671 patients. In March 1999, the Commission formally-charged Dr. Jeckle.

In July 1999, the assistant attorney general (AAG) handling the Commission’s charges against Dr. Jeckle contacted Mr. Crotty to ask if he had deposed Dr. Jeckle. He had not, but Mr. Crotty copied and sent the AAG a nurse’s deposition he had taken for the private lawsuit against Dr. Jeckle. In response to Mr. Crotty’s request, the AAG sent him a copy of the Commission’s file on Dr. Jeckle. Soon, Dr. Jeckle heard from patients that they were receiving unsolicited phone calls encouraging them to join lawsuits against Dr. Jeckle. During an August 2000 deposition by Mr. Crotty of Dr. Jeckle, Dr. Jeckle realized from the questions asked that Mr. Crotty had seen a patient file Dr. Jeckle had provided the Commission. Mr. Crotty turned the file over to the court and explained he had shared the file with Seattle attorneys, including lawyers in the firms of Stanislaw Ashbaugh and Keller Rohrbach, who represented plaintiffs in similar suits.

In March 2002, Dr. Jeckle filed this action against the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, their firms, the Commission, and the AAG that had released the file to Mr. Crotty. Dr. Jeckle alleged multiple causes of action:

(1) Intentional interference with Dr. Jeckle’s medical practice.
(2) Violation of chapter 42.17 RCW, the Public Disclosure Act.
(3) Outrage.
(4) Violation of chapter 19.86 RCW, the Consumer Protection Act, in that the lawyers used the file to contact potential clients.
(5) Violation of chapter 70.02 RCW, the Uniform Health Care Information Act.
(6) Invasion of privacy.
(7) Infliction of emotional distress.
[380]*380(8) Civil conspiracy.

In June 2002, the law firms and the firms’ lawyer defendants moved under CR 12(b)(6) to dismiss all of Dr. Jeckle’s causes of action as to them and award attorney fees for a frivolous suit. In December 2002, the court granted these motions and awarded attorney fees. It certified the order as appealable under CR 54(b), even though the Commission and the AAG remained as defendants. The court denied Dr. Jeckle’s motion to reconsider. Then, Dr. Jeckle appealed.

ANALYSIS

Standard of Review

We review de novo the trial court’s dismissal decision under CR 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Cutler v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 124 Wn.2d 749, 755, 881 P.2d 216 (1994), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1169 (1995). Such dismissals are appropriate only if “it appears beyond a reasonable doubt that no facts exist that would justify recovery.” Id. We accept as true the allegations in the plaintiffs’ complaint and the reasonable inferences that can be drawn from the allegations. See Reid v. Pierce County, 136 Wn.2d 195, 201, 961 P.2d 333 (1998).

A. Public Disclosure Act Cause of Action

The issue is whether the trial court erred in deciding no cause of action exists under CR 12(b)(6) against the law firms and lawyers based upon Dr. Jeckle’s allegation that they violated the public disclosure act, chapter 42.17 RCW, when they obtained and used the investigatory records of the Medical Quality Assurance Commission in aid of their private lawsuits against Dr. Jeckle.

RCW 42.17.310(l)(d) exempts from public disclosure “specific investigative records compiled by ... state agencies vested with the responsibility to discipline members of any profession, the nondisclosure of which is essential... [381]*381for the protection of any person’s right to privacy.” Under RCW 42.17.255, “[a] person’s ‘right to privacy,’ ‘right of privacy,’ ‘privacy,’ or ‘personal privacy,’ as these terms are used in that chapter, is invaded or violated only if disclosure of information about the person: (1) Would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, and (2) is not of legitimate concern to the public.” RCW 42.17.390 provides for civil remedies and sanctions for violations of the PDA. RCW 42.17.390(3) imposes a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each violation. RCW 42.17.312

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Bluebook (online)
120 Wash. App. 374, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jeckle-v-crotty-washctapp-2004.