Attorneys in Dr. Weiner case to huddle July 6 over motion requests
Oral arguments regarding summary judgments will be heard July 6 for a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by an oncologist who once worked at St. Peter’s Health as attorneys for all sides hope to hash out a long list of requests.
A status conference was held Friday at Lewis and County 1st District Court in the case of Dr. Thomas Weiner vs. St. Peter’s Health. Judge Mike Menahan said a May 25 pre-trial conference would have to be rescheduled as he had a jury trial now scheduled for that day and noted the criminal matters take priority over civil cases.
Menahan told attorneys for Weiner, St. Peter’s and Dr. Randy Sasich, who was named in the suit, that there are many motions pending before the court, “some of which are ripe.”
He said in the court filings there are 372 documents filed and many are motions. He said there are 500 entries.
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One attorney noted that there are 27 motions which he said would likely take at least 13 1/2 hours of argument based on 30 minutes per motion.
Judge Mike Menahan listened to arguments Monday in the Lewis and Clark County Courthouse.
Menahan said the parties probably wanted to have oral arguments on the motions for summary judgment and he should take those up before they move on to motions in limine (which prevents certain evidence from being presented at trial) and work toward a pre-trial conference,”
“It just seems to me those issues related to summary judgments need to take priority before we get to other matters,” he said.
Menahan said there would be some discussion of setting a pre-trial conference at the July 6 hearing.
Menhan said his dilemma was that he has had five jury trials in the past eight weeks. He said he has homicide trial for which he called 370 jurors and is expected to take a month.
“That has caused quite a ripple effect throughout my docket,” he said, adding he was doing his best to shoehorn in civil trials.
Weiner, who had served as director of St. Peter’s cancer treatment center, sued the hospital Dec. 10, claiming wrongful termination.
The hospital terminated Weiner in November 2020 and said he had incorrectly treated a patient for lung cancer for 11 years before it was determined that the person did not have the disease at the time of death.
Weiner, who had been with the hospital for nearly 25 years, sued St. Peter’s Health, its chief executive officer and several of its physicians for damages, saying suspending his clinical privileges violated due process, was done without good cause and damaged his reputation.
Sasich has been named in the legal action. Weiner has amended his complaint, saying the hospital approached his former patients to get them to file malpractice claims against him.
Sasich was added to the list of defendants, alleging that he told nurses and patients that Weiner was treating healthy people with chemotherapy. He has asked to be dismissed from the lawsuit.
Dr. Thomas Weiner
Menahan agreed in July to a change of venue, requested by St. Peter’s. He said he will retain jurisdiction in the case and pull jurors from Montana’s 4th Judicial District in Missoula County. The trial could be held in either Missoula or Helena, depending largely on the trial schedules in each courthouse, a court official said earlier.
Stacker compiled a list of the highest-earning cities in Montana using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Cities are ranked by 2019 5-year estimate median household income and all have at least 3,000 households.
Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021.
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