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Ex-Putnam doctor’s suits against lawyers dismissed

Posted on Feb 22, 2007

Ex-Putnam doctor’s suits against lawyers dismissed By Paul J. Nyden Staff writer The U.S. District Court in Charleston dismissed two lawsuits on Tuesday that Dr. John A. King, whose name is now Christopher Wallace Martin, filed against lawyers who represented him. The court previously dismissed a third lawsuit King had filed. Today, King has 110 pending medical malpractice lawsuits filed against him in Putnam County Circuit Court related to surgeries he performed at Putnam General Hospital in Hurricane. Last fall, King generated two more medical malpractice suits while treating patients at clinics near Birmingham, Ala. - advertisement - King filed all three lawsuits against his former West Virginia lawyers on Feb. 20, 2006, seeking “compensatory damages for legal malpractice.” At the time, King said he was living in Florida. Each suit alleges the West Virginia lawyers King hired after Putnam General Hospital suspended his privileges on June 5, 2003, did not represent him effectively. King’s suits also allege those lawyers failed to prevent him from losing his medical license, which the West Virginia Board of Osteopathy revoked on Feb. 27, 2004. James D. McQueen, a lawyer who heads the Charleston firm of McQueen & Murphy, represented King first. King’s suit states he paid McQueen “thousands of dollars in legal fees” but that McQueen “did little meaningful work,” failed to challenge “numerous false statements and testimony” and failed to require the hospital to reschedule a peer review hearing originally scheduled for July 2, 2003. King dismissed McQueen on July 29, 2003, stating he had decided “to seek another firm which would consider a contingency fee schedule” to represent him. The U.S. District Court in Charleston dismissed King’s suit against McQueen on Jan. 30, stating McQueen had “no involvement” in representing King relating to the loss of his medical license. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary E. Stanley recommended that the court dismiss King’s suit against McQueen. Gordon Copland and Janis White, lawyers with the Charleston law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, also represented King briefly. In his second lawsuit, King states he retained Steptoe & Johnson through the firm’s branch office in Clarksburg “on or about June 9, 2003.” King states he later learned Steptoe & Johnson also represented Putnam General Hospital. - advertisement - Steptoe & Johnson, King alleged, “caused him continuous injury” and the individual lawyers “committed legal malpractice” against him. Charles R. “Rusty” Webb, a partner in Giatris & Webb, also represented King. In his third lawsuit, King alleges Webb failed to represent him in his dispute with Putnam General and also failed to “challenge the conflict of interest” of Steptoe & Johnson lawyers. Webb “did very little or nothing to represent or protect [King’s] interests,” the lawsuit alleges. Lance Rollo, a Morgantown lawyer, represented King during Tuesday’s hearing at the federal building in Charleston. During the hearing, Stanley noted she had ordered Richard G. Poff Jr., an Alabama lawyer who filed the three lawsuits for King, “to appear in person.” Poff did not appear. Stanley dismissed the Steptoe & Johnson and Giatris & Webb lawsuits Tuesday afternoon.