After 22 years, Penn Supreme Court to Hear Surgeon’s Appeal

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to hear an orthopedic surgeon’s appeal in a defamation case that has been in litigation for 22 years.

In 1997, Pottstown Mercury Newspaper published several articles reporting that Elliot Menkowitz, M.D. had been suspended after 25 years at Pottstown Memorial Medical Center and that his sudden absence had “spawned rampant rumors” of “professional misconduct in his treatment of an older female patient.”

Dr. Menkowitz sued Peerless Publications and its now former reporter Eric Engquist for defamation per se and defamation by implication. He argued that the statements were false and portrayed him “as an incompetent doctor who engaged in criminal acts toward patients” and implied that he “had engaged in unlawful or unprofessional behavior.”

On March 20, 2014, a jury returned a verdict in favor of Dr. Menkowitz. The jury awarded Menkowitz $800,000 for past and future lost earnings, $200,000 for harm to his reputation, and $1 million in punitive damages. Following post-trial motions, the trial court judge vacated the punitive damages award, ruling there was no evidence of malice, which is required for a punitive damages award.

On appeal, the Superior Court upheld the trial court’s ruling on punitive damages and also vacated the compensatory damages award. Dr. Menkowitz appealed the Superior Court’s decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has granted allocatur, which means they will hear arguments on the question: “Did the Superior Court disregard this court’s holding in Joseph III [Joseph v. The Scranton Times] by failing to apply the appropriate standards of causation and deference in vacating the judgment entered by the trial court awarding substantial compensatory and consequential damages to Elliot Menkowitz, M.D. for harm to reputation and loss of past and future earnings?”

Dr. Menkowitz is represented by Alan Epstein and Jennifer Myers Chalal of Spector Gadon & Rosen in Philadelphia. OTW spoke with Chalal, who said, “Alan Epstein and Jennifer Chalel are happy that Dr. Menkowitz will have the opportunity to revive the well-deserved verdict rendered by the jury.”