San Diego Hosp. Based Physicians v. El Centro Reg’l Med. Ctr. (Summary)

CONTRACT BREACH

San Diego Hosp. Based Physicians v. El Centro Reg’l Med. Ctr., D061740 (Cal. Ct. App. Aug. 1, 2013)

The Court of Appeal for the Fourth District of California affirmed the denial of a hospital’s motion to dismiss against a physician group (which had sued the hospital for claims of retaliation and breach of contract) based on the state’s anti-SLAPP statute.  The physician group alleged that the hospital retaliated against the group for complaining about patient care practices.  The court determined that while the physician group was subject to the anti-SLAPP statute, the group had met its burden to show a probability of prevailing on each of the causes of action.

The hospital had argued that the group’s retaliatory claims would not prevail because, among other reasons, administrative remedies were not exhausted and the physician group failed to show that the hospital acted with retaliatory motive.  However, the court found that administrative remedies were not available to the physician group and that retaliatory acts indeed occurred shortly after the complaints about patient care were raised.  Thus, the physician group satisfied the minimal anti-SLAPP burden.