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CLARKSBURG -- A motion by WVU Medicine for a change of venue in a lawsuit filed by the Memorial Health System has been denied by a federal judge.
U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia John Preston Bailey issued the ruling on Friday.
Earlier this year, Memorial settled a lawsuit against former Camden Clark CEO Mike King, former hospital legal counsel Todd A. Kruger and Dr. Michael Roberts with Parkersburg Surgical Associates. The Marietta-based health system alleged the three collaborated to make false accusations that Memorial was violating federal law by over-compensating physicians and other health care providers to get them to refer patients to the health system.
In May, Memorial filed suit against Camden Clark, West Virginia University Health System and West Virginia University Hospitals Inc. alleging the plot was hatched with the express approval of certain officers or directors of the hospital.
In the order, the court said it took into consideration "four factors when deciding whether to transfer venue: the weight accorded to the plaintiff's choice of venue, witness convenience and access, convenience of the parties and the interest of justice."
WVU Medicine claimed a transfer to move venue to the Southern District of West Virginia is a "more convenient forum" and that the interest of justice favors the venue change because "the focus of the case is Parkersburg and the Mid-Ohio Valley". WVU Medicine also claimed the action of the lawsuit "has only a tenuous connection to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia."
Memorial Health System said the venue can be proper in more than one judicial district and said transfer to the Southern District would be inappropriate and the other three factors of venue change favor venue in the Northern District.
In Bailey's order denying the motion to transfer venue, the venue of the lawsuit is found proper in the Northern District because two of the four defendants reside in the Northern District. According to the order, the court must take into consideration Marietta's choice of forum stating "unless the balancing of these factors weighs strongly in favor of the defendant, the plaintiff's choice of forum generally should not be disturbed" but the court cannot transfer the venue to merely shift inconvenience of a party to the other.
Although venue can be proper in more than one district, having the case shifted to the Southern District after the case has already been initiated and investigated in the Northern District weighs in favor of denial of WVU Medicine's motion to transfer venue, the order said. In addition to that factor, the Northern District court is already familiar with the lawsuit cases, which adds to the denial of motion to transfer.
Bailey's order cited Judge Wendy Berger of the Southern District, who said the Northern District "is accessible to all parties" and that witnesses not necessary for the case would be traveling from Morgantown, another factor favoring the Northern District.
The most significant reason for denying the motion to transfer is that the Northern District court has overseen two actions involving this case and mentions that Marietta points out "any other court could not hope to be as familiar with the underlying proceedings than this Court," Bailey said.
Gretchen Dowler can be reached at gdowler@newsandsentinel.com