Doctor loses $12M malpractice suit against insurer

A physician who sued her former malpractice insurer has lost her case after the court ruled her claims were blocked by a previous ruling in Minnesota state courts.

As a pathologist at the Iowa Clinic, Dr. Joy Trueblood was sued along with her employer after a lab mixup led the clinic to incorrectly diagnose a Panora man with prostate cancer, resulting in an unnecessary surgery to remove the healthy organ. The case went to trial in 2019, and a Polk County jury awarded the man $12.25 million in damages.

Trueblood, who took an early retirement after that case, filed her own lawsuit in Minnesota state court in 2020, working with the same attorney who previously represented the patient who sued her. This time, the target was MMIC, the Minnesota-based insurance company that represented her and Iowa Clinic and, she claimed, wrongly put the blame for the error on her and unwisely decided to take the case to trial.

Nick Rowley, the attorney, has represented a number of Iowa patients who have won large malpractice verdicts, and claimed in court filings and public statements that MMIC has repeatedly refused to settle cases of even obvious medical error, resulting in jury verdicts far larger than what the company could have paid in settlements. (MMIC denies these claims.)

Representing Trueblood, he argued the company had breached its "duty of good faith and fair dealing" to Trueblood and violated Iowa law.

The Minnesota district court ultimately dismissed the lawsuit, finding that Trueblood was incorrectly seeking to apply Iowa law in Minnesota court, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling. In 2022, Trueblood and Rowley filed the same claims again, this time in Iowa court.

Judge: Can't refile case

after Minnesota dismissal

MMIC filed for judgment against Trueblood, arguing that the dismissal with prejudice of the Minnesota case was binding and forbid her from bringing the same claims in any other jurisdiction. It also asked the court to sanction Rowley for filing what the company deemed a "frivolous" lawsuit. Trueblood, through Rowley, argued the new lawsuit was permitted because the Minnesota case was not decided on the merits of her claim.

In her Jan. 31 order, district judge Samantha Gronewald agreed with MMIC that the case should be dismissed, citing the U.S. Constitution's dictate that each state give "full faith and credit" to the acts and court proceedings of other states.

"Dr. Trueblood's petition is barred as a matter of law in Iowa pursuant to the full faith and credit clause of the United States Constitution," Gronewald wrote.

But Gronewald denied MMIC's request for sanctions against Rowley, finding his arguments the Iowa lawsuit should proceed had not been legally unreasonable. She also declined to sanction Rowley for his conduct outside the courtroom, including issuing press releases and complaining about MMIC to the Iowa insurance commissioner.

"It is not for the court to wade into the fray of tactics counsel may choose to engage in, whether warranted or exaggerated, outside of the courthouse and realm of formal litigation proceedings," she wrote.

Legislators considering

malpractice caps

MMIC and its parent company Constellation Mutual applauded the ruling.

"MMIC continues to be sympathetic to all parties involved, and we are pleased with the court's decision to dismiss the frivolous lawsuit," Constellation General Counsel Nicholas Ghiselli said in an email.

Rowley said via a spokesperson that he plans to appeal.

"Patients and families need bad faith law developed in Iowa to hold insurance companies accountable for behavior that they would not get away with in other states," he wrote. "We disagree with the trial judge's decision, which is why we have Courts of Appeal and a Supreme Court in Iowa. Hopefully, they will see things differently and protect patients and families across the state."

The decision comes as Iowa legislators are considering bills that would put caps on the damages available in medical malpractice cases. Trueblood testified at the Capitol in January to oppose the proposed caps.

"Patients and lawsuits are not the problem in Iowa," Trueblood told legislators. "The problem is the medical malpractice insurance industry. They are not managing their risk properly, and they are not protecting the doctors they insure."

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at [email protected], 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.