Salaymeh v. InterQual, Inc., 5-86-0335

• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois
• Citation: 108 Ill.Dec. 578,155 Ill.App.3d 1040,508 N.E.2d 1155
• Docket Number: No. 5-86-0335,5-86-0335
• Parties: , 108 Ill.Dec. 578 Muhammad T. SALAYMEH, M.D., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. INTERQUAL, INCORPORATED, a corporation, Charles M. Jacobs, Randolph W. Seed, M.D., Horty, Springer & Mattern, P.C., Linda Haddad, St. Vincent Memorial Hospital Corporation, the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, Edward Koerner, and George Freese, Defendants-Appellees.
• Decision Date: 28 May 1987

Page 1155

508 N.E.2d 1155 155 Ill.App.3d 1040, 108 Ill.Dec. 578 Muhammad T. SALAYMEH, M.D., Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
INTERQUAL, INCORPORATED, a corporation, Charles M. Jacobs,
Randolph W. Seed, M.D., Horty, Springer & Mattern, P.C.,
Linda Haddad, St. Vincent Memorial Hospital Corporation, the
Adorers of the Blood of Christ, Edward Koerner, and George
Freese, Defendants-Appellees. No. 5-86-0335. Appellate Court of Illinois,
Fifth District. May 28, 1987.

Page 1156

[155 Ill.App.3d 1041] [108 Ill.Dec. 579] Robert D. Owen, Linda M. Castleman, Robert M. Owen, of the firm of Owen Roberts, Ltd., Decatur, for plaintiff-appellant.

Charles M. Jacobs, Randolph W. Seed, M.D., St. Vincent Memorial Hosp. Corp., Belleville, for Interqual, Inc.

Thompson & Mitchell, Gary Mayes, Paul J. Puricelli, Belleville, for The Adorers of the Blood of Christ, and George Freese.

Michael J. Tague, Franklin, Flynn & Palmer, Champaign, and Bernard D. Marcus, Titus Marchus & Shapira, Pittsburgh, Pa., for Horty, Springer & Mattern and Linda Haddad.

Page 1157

[108 Ill.Dec. 580] Howard W. Feldman, Springfield, for Edward Koerner.

Justice WELCH delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff Muhammad T. Salaymeh, M.D. commenced this action in the circuit court of Christian County alleging he had been deprived of his operating privileges at St. Vincent Memorial Hospital as the result of a wrongful conspiracy among defendants InterQual, Incorporated, Charles M. Jacobs, Randolph W. Seed, M.D., Horty, Springer & Mattern, P.C., Linda Haddad, St. Vincent Memorial Hospital Corporation, the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, Edward Koerner, and George Freese. The circuit court dismissed the first, second and fifth counts of plaintiff's five-count complaint with prejudice, whereupon plaintiff moved for voluntary dismissal of the third and fourth counts. The circuit court granted the latter motion, and plaintiff brought the instant appeal.

Plaintiff's ultimate complaint included the following allegations common to all counts: Jacobs and Seed are the president and clinical [155 Ill.App.3d 1042] medical director, respectively, of InterQual. Haddad, an attorney licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania, is a member of Horty, Springer & Mattern, P.C., a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania law firm, none of whose members are licensed to practice law in Illinois. St. Vincent Hospital Corporation operates St. Vincent Memorial Hospital ("the hospital") in Taylorville, Illinois. The Adorers of the Blood of Christ is a religious corporation which owns the hospital. Koerner and Freese are chief executive officer and chairman of the board of trustees, respectively, of the hospital. Plaintiff is licensed to practice medicine in Illinois and practices in the specialty of general surgery and in the sub-specialty of thoracic surgery. Plaintiff had staff privileges and operating room privileges at the hospital pursuant to a contract between himself and the hospital corporation until his operating room privileges were terminated on August 29, 1984.

In the first count of his complaint, plaintiff alleged all of the defendants engaged in a "Conspiracy to Induce an Interference with Contractual Relations" existing between plaintiff and the hospital regarding plaintiff's operating room privileges. Plaintiff alleged the roles of the various defendants in the conspiracy were as follows: Koerner coordinated the activities of the defendants to accomplish the aims of the conspiracy; the Adorers of the Blood of Christ selected a majority of the board of trustees of the hospital "so that the actions planned could be carried into effect without effective resistance by the Board" and selected Freese as chairman of the board "to facilitate the carrying out of the conspiratorial plan"; Freese used his position to assist Koerner in the conspiracy to interfere with plaintiff's contractual rights by giving Koerner power and authority beyond that which his position with the hospital provided; InterQual, Jacobs and Seed conducted an investigation of plaintiff's and another physician's medical practices and procedures which was in fact intended to deprive plaintiff of his privileges as a staff physician "by threats and duress"; Haddad and Horty, Springer & Mattern, P.C. either (1) were engaged in the unauthorized practice of law in Illinois, or (2) gave tactical counsel and guidance to the other defendants in furtherance of the conspiracy. In the first count plaintiff alleged Koerner was not acting in the interest of the hospital but instead instigated the conspiracy "to further his own personal prejudices and bias against medical doctors of foreign birth and non-Christian religious preference, in furtherance of which he was joined by defendant Freese." The first count alleged the following sequence of events: (1) In April of 1984, at Koerner's suggestion, the hospital Tissue Committee transmitted tissue samples from two surgery cases to InterQual. (2) InterQual, Jacobs [155 Ill.App.3d 1043] and Seed were assigned this evaluation procedure with the understanding that the true aim of the evaluation was to deprive plaintiff of his medical practice at the hospital. (3) Later the evaluation was expanded to include about 100 operative procedures which occurred in one year. (4) After reviewing those cases, InterQual advised its fellow conspirators the review was

Page 1158

[108 Ill.Dec. 581] not turning up sufficient material to support the kind of report required to accomplish the aims of the conspiracy, whereupon,...