Wieder Psychiatric Services v. New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner's Office

25 Mass. L. Rptr. 133
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedFebruary 12, 2009
DocketNo. 071873B
StatusPublished

This text of 25 Mass. L. Rptr. 133 (Wieder Psychiatric Services v. New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner's Office) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wieder Psychiatric Services v. New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner's Office, 25 Mass. L. Rptr. 133 (Mass. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

Welch, Richard E., J.

INTRODUCTION

Imagine a first-year law school Civil Procedure examination with the following question: “Could an employee of state X who happens to live in neighboring state Y, sue state X in state Ys courts? Assume that the lawsuit solely concerns her employment contract and working conditions in state X. Further, assume that the employee occasionally performed some work for state X when at home in state Y.” The overwhelming majority of law students would breathe a sigh of relief while thanking the law school gods for an easy question. Then, citing hoary old Supreme Court precedents like International Shoe and spouting constitutional phrases like “due process” and “sovereignty,” the students would answer that the employee could not drag her state employer into another state’s courts. Instead, the employee would have to litigate the matter where the employment contract arose and where the alleged illegal acts occurred, i.e., state X. The professor would award a high grade for this correct answer. At the risk of ruining any suspense, the same result applies in this real life dispute.

But first some background.

BACKGROUND

The plaintiffs in this action include the former Chief Forensic Investigator for the State of New Hampshire, Katherine Wieder, who was employed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of New Hampshire and under the immediate supervision of the Chief Medical Examiner, defendant Thomas A. Andrew, M.D. In addition to her duties as Chief Forensic Investigator, Ms. Wieder also served as an Assistant Deputy Medical Examiner for the State of New Hampshire. In this capacity she was given additional sums of money as a contractor and worked at the direction and supervision of the Chief Medical Examiner. As an Assistant Deputy Medical Examiner, Ms. WiedCr was compensated for death investigations. These investigations required Ms. Wieder to externally examine the body prior to cremation. She was paid for each pre-cremation examination she allegedly attended plus compensation for mileage. Pre-cremation examinations require that a certificate be issued and signed by the Assistant Deputy Medical Examiner pursuant to New Hampshire Revised Statutes 325-A-.18. The certificate certified that no further examination or judicial inquiry was necessary prior to cremation.

In her capacity as an Assistant Deputy Medical Examiner, Ms. Wieder ran into trouble in 2004. A criminal investigation by the State of New Hampshire examined allegations that Ms. Wieder had authorized numerous cremations and signed certificates without viewing the bodies in violation of New Hampshire law. Complaint, Exhibit 21. Ms. Wieder allegedly failed to file many of the certificates that she had signed in violation of New Hampshire law and also allegedly gave pre-signed certificates to crematoria which allowed her to give verbal authorization over the telephone to release a body for cremation without the required viewing by Ms. Wieder of the body. This criminal investigation resulted in a search warrant being obtained and a search conducted at Ms. Wieder’s home in Newburyport, Massachusetts. See Complaint ¶119 and Exhibit 21 to the complaint. Eventually, Ms. Wieder was indicted on numerous counts of fraudulent handling of recordable writing, falsifying physical evidence, criminal solicitation, and other charges. On July 3, 2008, Katherine Wieder pled guilty to many of these felony counts. See Motion to Withdraw (Docket #15).

The complaint in this case was filed approximately seven months before Ms. Wieder’s guilty plea. The wellspring of the civil complaint fairly can be summarized as resting upon the allegation that the criminal investigation by the State of New Hampshire was malicious, baseless, wrongful, and in retaliation for the plaintiff asserting various constitutional rights. See, e.g., Complaint SNI3, 6, 54, 55, 56, 66, 89, 100, 109, 120, 130, 133, 165.

The husband of Ms. Wieder, Stephen J. Wieder, M.D., is also named as a plaintiff as is his psychiatric practice located in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Wie-der Psychiatric Services. Dr. Stephen Wieder also serves as the guardian and next friend of Katherine Wieder due to her physical incapacity or illness. Complaint, Exhibit 22.

The civil complaint filed in this case (by predecessor counsel) completely ignores Rule 8 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. Far from being a “short and plain statement of the claim,” the complaint rambles in a convoluted, confusing, and, at times, nearly incomprehensible manner. Generously reading the [134]*134complaint, there exist two groups of defendants. The first group consists of offices or officials of the State of New Hampshire, namely the New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiners Office and Thomas A. Andrew “in his official and individual as Chief Medical Examiner for the State of New Hampshire.” The other group of defendants can be termed “hospital” defendants. These include the Concord Hospital, Inc., its parent corporation, Regional Health Care corporation, its president and C.E.O., Michael B. Green, and the vice-president of the finance for the hospital, defendant Scott Sloan. The complaint also lists ten “unknown and known by not named defendants.”

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is part of the Office of the Attorney General, a statewide division of the State of New Hampshire. As Chief Medical Examiner, defendant Thomas A. Andrew, M.D., runs the New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner’s Office. The complaint, which seeks a large amount of monetary damages, sues Dr. Andrew in his “official and individual capacity.” As made clear in the allegations in the complaint, it is only his actions as the Chief Medical Examiner of the State of New Hampshire that are at issue. Defendants Concord Hospital, Inc. and Capital Region Health Care Corporation are private corporations, incorporated under the laws of the State of New Hampshire. Concord Hospital is located in Concord, New Hampshire. The State of New Hampshire leases space in Concord Hospital (from its parent company, defendant Capital Region Health Care Corporation) for the State Morgue. The morgue is under the control of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Dr. Thomas Andrew is not an employee of either of the two private corporations. He is affiliated with Concord Hospital to the extent that he may practice at the Concord Hospital and often serves as consultant to other physicians with privileges at the Concord Hospital. See Exhibit 15 to the Complaint. The remaining individual defendants, Michael Green (in his official capacity as President of the Hospital) and Scott Sloan (in his official and individual capacity as Vice President of Finance for Capital Region Health Care Corporation) are sued solely in connection with their employment at the either the hospital or the parent corporation.

Both sets of defendants have moved to dismiss all counts of the complaint against them.

The defendants primarily argue a lack of jurisdiction (citing Rule 12b(2)) within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.1 For the reasons set forth below, these motions plainly must be granted.

THE COMPLAINT

The numerous counts of the complaint are difficult to understand, never mind summarize. In order to fairly evaluate the jurisdiction arguments, one is forced to slog thorough the complaint and give it a generous interpretation. The fairest reading of Count 1 (asserted against the State defendants and Concord Hospital) is that Dr. Andrew breached some unspecified “fiduciary duty to act in good faith” and “serve the best interests of former employee K.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
25 Mass. L. Rptr. 133, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wieder-psychiatric-services-v-new-hampshire-chief-medical-examiners-masssuperct-2009.