Patrick v. Burget

800 F.2d 1498, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 31365
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 30, 1986
Docket85-3759
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 800 F.2d 1498 (Patrick v. Burget) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patrick v. Burget, 800 F.2d 1498, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 31365 (9th Cir. 1986).

Opinion

800 F.2d 1498

1986-2 Trade Cases 67,299

Timothy A. PATRICK, M.D., Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
William M. BURGET, M.D., Jorma M. Leinassar, M.D., R.G.
Kettlekamp, M.D., Patrick Meyer, M.D., Gary Boelling, M.D.,
Robert D. Neikes, M.D., Franklin D. Russell, M.D., Leigh C.
Dolin, M.D., Richard C. Harris, M.D., Daniel M. Rappaport,
M.D., and Tzu Sung Chiang, M.D. doing business as Astoria
Clinic, Defendants-Appellants.

Nos. 85-3759, 85-4071.

United States Court of Appeals,
Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted March 4, 1986.
Decided Sept. 30, 1986.

Don H. Marmaduke, Barbee B. Lyon, Tonkon, Torp, Galen, Marmaduke & Booth, Portland, Or., John A. Reuling, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Salem, Or., for plaintiff-appellee.

Thomas M. Triplett, Schwabe, Williamson, Wyatt, Moore & Roberts, Rick T. Haselton, Lindsay, Hart, Neil & Weigler, Portland, Or., for defendants-appellants.

Herbert H. Anderson, Theodore C. Falk, Spears, Lubersky, Campbell, Bledsoe, Anderson & Young, Portland, Or., for amicus curiae Oregon Ass'n of Hospitals.

Dave Frohnmayer, Atty. Gen., James E. Mountain, Jr., Sol. Gen., John A. Reuling, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Salem, Or., for amicus curiae State of Or.

Douglas R. Carlson, Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, Chicago, Ill., for amicus curiae Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, The American Medical Ass'n and The Oregon Medical Ass'n.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.

Before FLETCHER, ALARCON and WIGGINS, Circuit Judges.

FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

Appellants, partners in the Astoria Clinic, a medical clinic, appeal from a jury verdict in favor of Dr. Timothy Patrick, a surgeon in Astoria, for violations of Sherman Act sections 1 and 2 and for interference with prospective economic advantage under Oregon law. Because the conduct at the heart of the antitrust claims is exempt from liability under the state action doctrine, we reverse the judgment on the Sherman Act claims. Because the trial court failed to instruct the jury properly as to applicable statutory immunities, we reverse the judgment on the state law claims as well. We remand to the district court for determination of whether Patrick has antitrust claims that survive and for a new trial on the state law claim.

BACKGROUND1

Astoria is a city of 10,000 people located in the northwest corner of Oregon. The only hospital in Astoria is Columbia Memorial. Columbia Memorial is a secondary hospital capable of handling some, but not all, forms of complex surgery.2 The nearest hospital, Ocean Beach Hospital in Ilwaco, Washington, is a primary care hospital. During the relevant time frame, a majority of the Columbia Memorial medical staff were employees or partners of the Astoria Clinic.

Appellee Timothy Patrick is trained in general and vascular (blood vessel) surgery. In 1972, he joined the Astoria Clinic. After his initial one-year contract expired, he was asked to become a partner. Because he felt he had not been paid in proportion to the income he had produced for the Clinic, he chose to open an independent practice in Astoria. James Weber is a general surgeon who came to Astoria as an employee of Patrick in 1979. Patrick fired him in 1981 and Weber, in turn, set up an independent practice in Astoria.

Appellants William Burget, Jorma Leinasser, Richard Kettlekamp, Patrick Meyer, Gary Boelling, Robert Niekes, Franklin Russell, Leigh Dolin, Richard Harris and Daniel Rappaport were all partners in the Astoria Clinic when this suit was filed in 1981. Appellant Tzu Sung Chiang was added to the suit when he became a partner in 1982.3

From the outset the doctors in the Clinic reacted negatively to Patrick's establishment of an independent practice. Patrick received virtually no surgical referrals from the Clinic. During a period when there was no general surgeon at the Clinic, patients were referred to hospitals 50 or more miles away for surgery. If Patrick (or Weber, when he was associated with Patrick) treated a "Clinic patient," the Clinic doctors would react angrily. The record contains several examples of confrontations resulting from the perceived theft of patients. Some of these took place in front of the patients themselves. The Clinic doctors also were not interested in helping Patrick with his own patients. Clinic surgeons consistently refused to enter into cross-coverage agreements with Patrick that would provide care for each other's patients if one of them needed to be out of town. Clinic doctors also were reluctant to give consultations. At the same time, the Clinic doctors repeatedly criticized Patrick for failure to get outside consultations and adequate back-up coverage.

The pattern of treatment of emergency room patients suggested that the Clinic doctors were attempting to make Patrick's patients their own and to prevent new ones from seeing him. Witnesses testified that they had come to the emergency room, asked for Dr. Patrick, and were told he was not available. Later, they discovered that Patrick was available and that no attempt had been made to contact him. Emergency room patients without a regular doctor tended to be treated by Astoria Clinic doctors rather than Patrick or Weber. During the period when the Clinic had no general surgeon, surgical emergencies were often sent to out of town hospitals rather than to Patrick.

The Clinic doctors explained that their reluctance to deal with Patrick was due to his contentiousness and lack of skill. However, there was uncontroverted testimony that Patrick never had any trouble getting along with the doctors at Ocean Beach and that he had been offered a partnership in the Astoria Clinic. There also was a great deal of testimony that Patrick was quite a good surgeon.

In the fall of 1979, after Weber had joined Patrick, the difficult relations between Patrick and the Clinic doctors erupted into more serious confrontations. The Clinic doctors attacked Weber in various ways soon after his arrival, and they increased their hostility toward Patrick. However, as soon as Weber left Patrick's employ, he was invited to join the Clinic.

An incident that triggered disciplinary action against Patrick occurred shortly after Weber's arrival. Patrick operated on a Mr. Willie to repair injuries suffered in an accident. Patrick almost immediately left town for the weekend. He left Weber in charge, even though Weber was scheduled to leave for Chicago Sunday morning. Patrick told Weber to check in on Willie early Sunday and, if he looked fine, to ask Dr. Linehan, a general practitioner, to cover until Patrick's anticipated return Sunday afternoon. Weber checked on Willie at 5:00 a.m., and, finding him stable, left for Chicago.

Before Patrick returned, Willie's condition worsened. The nurses called Dr. Linehan, who did not feel competent to handle the problems that had arisen. Without calling Patrick, who was only 90 minutes away by car, Linehan asked Dr. Boelling for help. Boelling refused, saying that he had bailed Patrick out enough.

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Bluebook (online)
800 F.2d 1498, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 31365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patrick-v-burget-ca9-1986.