WHEELING — Marietta Area Healthcare Inc. is suing Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital Corp. for an alleged decade-long plan to interfere with the business and reputation of a healthcare provider.
Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital Corporation and Camden-Clark Health Services were both named as defendants in the suit.
Approximately 10 years ago, Michael King, Michael Roberts and Todd Kruger, also known as Qui Tam Group, with the defendants' approval, embarked on an effort to interfere with Marietta Area Healthcare Inc., Marietta Memorial Hospital and Marietta Healthcare Physicians Inc.'s reputation through a lawsuit that initiated a judicial action and federal investigation premised on "flimsy and false accusations," according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
"The Qui Tam Group — who were involved with healthcare in the area — knew word of a federal investigation would travel quickly through the valley's close-knit medical community," the complaint states. "And they furthered that effort by spreading word of the action, the investigation and the allegations throughout the community."
At the end of the lengthy investigation, the investigators concluded that many of the allegations in the complaint filed by the Qui Tam Group were unsupported and that the plaintiffs had not violated federal law, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs claim that even though it was vindicated, it was not unharmed, as the cost alone from responding to the litigation was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and the process had interfered with the plaintiffs' business relationships, as well as the ability to recruit physicians.
The plaintiffs claim the defendants' actions were an abuse of process and violated federal law and West Virginia law.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. They are represented by Michael B. Hisam, Max C. Gottlieb and Carl W. Shaffer of Hissam Forman Donovan Ritchie in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number: 5:23-cv-00131