Simmering doctor-lawyer feud!

Simmering doctor-lawyer feud hits boiling point in suits

By JANE MUSGRAVE

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Being labeled a P.I.M.P. for the insurance industry by Palm Beach County trial lawyers didn't sit well with Dr. Michael Zeide.

Grabbing a weapon from the lawyers' arsenal, the orthopedic surgeon sued the Palm Beach County Justice Association, accusing the group of trying to ruin his reputation.

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Dr. Michael Zeide

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Theodore Leopold

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Ricci, Leopold, Farmer & McAfee law firm
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Although that lawsuit could have been written off as the action of one angry doctor, another orthopedic surgeon joined the fray last week, filing a lawsuit of his own.

In his lawsuit that longtime personal injury attorneys Edward Ricci and Theodore Leopold say marks a first for their careers, the doctor is not only suing their Palm Beach Gardens law firm but, in a bizarre move, is doing so as a John Doe ?- a move typically used in rape cases and for people in federal witness protection programs.

In addition, the lawsuit has been filed in Broward County, even though most of the events took place in a Palm Beach County courtroom.

Dr. Doe, the lawsuit claims, could never get a fair shake in Palm Beach County.

The two defamation lawsuits, some insist, show that a long-simmering feud between county doctors and lawyers is heating up.

"In Palm Beach County, more than any place I've ever heard of, there's a deep blood feud between the leaders of the trial bar and doctors," said attorney Robert Rivas, who is representing Zeide.

Zeide is contesting comments he claims were made against him at a seminar put on by the trial lawyers association.

P.I.M.P. is an acronym the group came up with to describe doctors who testify on behalf of insurance companies defending themselves against lawsuits from people seeking millions for injuries in auto accidents, from poorly maintained sidewalks, nursing home abuse, bad doctors and the like. The acronym stands for Professional Independent Medical Practitioners.

Rivas, a former Palm Beach County attorney who now practices in Tallahassee, said the county's powerful trial bar for years has been at the "epicenter" of statewide battles between the medical and legal professions. Many of the county's personal injury lawyers are nationally prominent and they are tight-knit ?- a lethal combination for anyone who tries to cross them, he said.

Other lawyers, particularly those involved in the recently renamed trial attorneys association, disputed Rivas' claims.

"Do I think it's a war because these two lawsuits were filed by physicians who do a good amount of work for the insurance industry?" said attorney Jeffrey Liggio, who is defending the lawyers group against Zeide's suit. "It sounds like both had their feelings hurt and decided to do this."

Ted Babbitt, a personal injury lawyer, agreed.

"I don't look at Palm Beach County as an epicenter of acrimony between doctors and lawyers," he said.

Most get along, he said.

Although Babbitt was not familiar with the John Doe lawsuit, he labeled Zeide's lawsuit "silly."

"I think Dr. Zeide ought to get a life," he said.

In other seminar course materials, the so-called P.I.M.P.s were described as hit men.

Such comments are defamatory, Rivas said.

"This is not rhetorical hyperbole, like calling someone a jerk," he said. "It's saying a doctor gives false or medically wrong testimony and he is paid in exchange for that testimony. That's a provable fact and that's why it's defamatory."

Liggio disagreed, claiming such speech is protected by the First Amendment.

Babbitt said the words were directed not at Zeide but rather doctors in general who make tens of thousands of dollars testifying for insurance companies.

Dr. Doe's suit, meanwhile, is raising eyebrows because it involves trial testimony, which is typically protected because courts want people to speak freely without fear they will be sued, Ricci said.

Further, although the doctor filed the suit anonymously, the claims in it leave little doubt who he is.

In January, Ricci-Leopold won $5.2 million for a Lantana man after a jury agreed that GEICO insurance should have covered his medical expenses for injuries he sustained in a rear-end collision.

During the trial, a controversy erupted when Judge Howard Harrison told Dr. Jeffrey Penner not to tell the jury whether he would have recommended the man have surgery. Seconds into his testimony, Penner said he wouldn't have recommended surgery.

Harrison, who called the act audacious, held a contempt hearing but didn't cite Penner.

The John Doe lawsuit refers to the doctor's testimony, claiming Ricci-Leopold told other lawyers about the contempt proceedings. It also claims the law firm asked the Florida Department of Health to revoke the doctor's license.

As a result, he contends, he lost money and future business from insurance companies, and his reputation was seriously harmed.

Ricci, who wouldn't speculate about the doctor's identity, scoffed at the suit and its being filed in Broward County.

"He has this bizarre, twisted idea that he can play the Wizard of Oz in Broward County ?- hide behind a screen and control the release of information," Ricci said.

Herbert Milgrim, a Hollywood lawyer representing Doe, countered that his client is just trying to protect his reputation from overzealous attorneys.

On Thursday, they said they will ask a Broward judge to force John Doe to reveal his identity, move the case to Palm Beach County and dismiss the suit as frivolous.

Meanwhile, Liggio has persuaded Palm Beach County Circuit Judge David French to dismiss Zeide's suit.

But, Rivas said, it's far from over.

He has asked French to remove himself from the case because he and Zeide battled when French worked as a personal injury lawyer.

Further, he said, he plans to refile the lawsuit in hopes of "stopping the personal injury trial bar from flexing its muscles to intimidate doctors who testify for the defense.