Hospital faces $67,000 in sanctions

CHARLESTON - Bon Secours-St. Francis Xavier Hospital has been slapped with more than $67,000 in sanctions after its attorneys tried to move a case from state court to federal court -- even though a federal judge previously rejected such a move.

Legal maneuvering is common before trials, but a judge can impose sanctions if he feels such jockeying needlessly wastes the court's time.

Circuit Judge J. Michael Baxley's order against the hospital was filed last week. It's the most recent step in a 6-year-old defamation lawsuit between the hospital and local physician Dr. Thomas Wieters, a case expected to go to trial soon.

Wieters' attorney, Gregg Meyers, said the sanctions are an unusual step. "I've never seen anything like it, but I've only been practicing law for 31 years," he said.

The order requires the hospital to pay $53,686 to cover a week's worth of lost appointments for Wieters as well as his extra legal expenses. It also requires the hospital to pay $13,863 to the state for court and juror costs.

"The conduct of the defendants and their counsel severely disrupted and inconvenienced the jury pool, the litigants, the witnesses, this court, the court staff, the clerk, the clerk's staff and the court administration's specialized multi-week docket," Baxley's order said.

A jury trial was set to begin in early March when Bon Secours-St. Francis' attorneys sought to move it to federal court. The hospital previously tried to get the federal courts to take the case in 2004, with no success.

While hospital attorneys felt they had different reasons behind their recent request, Meyers and Baxley disagreed.

"The court is aware that these are substantial sanctions, but believes they are commensurate with the ... defendant's conduct," Baxley's order said.

Tricia G. Crimminger, director of corporate communications for Roper-St. Francis Healthcare, said Tuesday that the hospital would not comment on the sanctions order because the case is still pending.

A jury trial in the case is set to begin later this month. At issue is information about Wieters that the hospital sent to the National Practitioners Databank. Wieters claims the information was false.

St. Francis likely won't have to decide whether to appeal the order until it has a verdict in the lawsuit, Meyers said.

Reach Robert Behre at rbehre@postandcourier.com or 937-5771.