Drobot sues lawyers, individuals over fabricated claims of "counterfeit screw" conspiracy

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., April 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Five weeks after a state court tossed out a host of civil conspiracy charges against him, Michael D. Drobot and his company Healthsmart Pacific, Inc. filed a lawsuit today against 30 individuals and their attorneys for falsely and maliciously claiming that Drobot and Healthsmart's former hospital, Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, harmed them via a non-existent "counterfeit screw" conspiracy.

Filed today by attorney Keith Fink in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the lawsuit seeks at least $30 million in damages.

The lawsuit names three prominent law firms and the individuals they enlisted to file more than 30 lawsuits last year. According to the near-identical complaints, each of these individuals alleged that Drobot and Healthsmart "conspired" with doctors to insert "counterfeit screws" into these persons' spines.

The individuals and lawyers sued Drobot and Healthsmart even though every one of these individuals received no medical treatment at Pacific Hospital of Long Beach. These individuals and lawyers sued Drobot and Healthsmart even though they specifically admitted in their own complaints that Drobot and Healthsmart:

• Had no knowledge of any "counterfeit" screws being used in these individuals' surgeries;
• Had no involvement in these individuals' surgeries;
• Had no financial interest in these individuals' surgeries.

Drobot's new lawsuit for malicious prosecution names law firms Kabateck, Brown Kellner, LLP, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, and Knox Ricksen, LLP, the individual attorneys at each firm who prepared and litigated these claims, and the 30 non-patients who sued Drobot and Healthsmart for treatment they received elsewhere.

Last month, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge threw out most of the conspiracy claims against Drobot, Pacific Hospital of Long Beach and the other hospitals and physicians accused of using the so-called "counterfeit'' surgical screws.  The court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to allege that there was any "counterfeit" screw conspiracy.

As Drobot's new lawsuit notes, "no reasonable person'' would have believed that Drobot and Healthsmart Pacific could be held liable for surgeries that occurred at other hospitals on the facts alleged. As his new lawsuit further notes, the individuals' lawyers repeatedly disregarded multiple attempts to have these claims voluntarily dismissed from the outset.

"Defendants maintained these 30 actions solely to harass plaintiffs and to force a settlement which had no relation to the merits of the underlying claims,'' Fink stated in the lawsuit.  

Drobot's lawsuit is the second filed by the former hospital executive against the trio of law firms that alleged the counterfeit screw conspiracy. In October 2014, Drobot and Healthsmart Pacific filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit, alleging that the attorneys defamed him and his company on television and radio. This action remains pending.

SOURCE Michael D. Drobot