Judging at Jay

“All rise.”

For about an hour Thursday morning, the auditorium of Jay County High School was transformed into a courtroom.

And not just any courtroom.

It became the venue of Indiana’s second highest court as the Indiana Court of Appeals brought its “Appeals on Wheels” program to JCHS for an audience of government and economics students, local judges and members of the Jay County Bar Association.

It was the 41st such session of the court’s statewide outreach education program this year.

And it wasn’t a mock trial or an exercise.

Attorneys for parties in a hotly contested legal battle between two mammoth health care corporations sparred over about $275,000 in legal fees.

“We’re here today because of the attorney’s fees,” said Paul Jefferson, attorney for Lutheran Health Network in its appeal of a trial court ruling.

The initial legal battle in 2017 was between Lutheran and its former chief executive officer Brian Bauer, who split with Lutheran and was believed to be working with IU Health to go into competition with his former employer.

IU Health is the owner of the former Jay County Hospital, now IU Health Jay. But at the time of the litigation, the Jay County Hospital Board of Trustees was also in talks with Lutheran Health Network as a potential buyer for the county hospital.

Because the parent company of Lutheran Health Network is based in Tennessee, Lutheran’s lawsuit against Bauer was filed there. But the discovery process in the suit — where the two sides seek disclosure of information — involved an Indiana trial court. So there were questions of jurisdiction and which court rules were to be applied as the case moved forward.

“This was very vigorous, contentious litigation,” IU Health attorney Stephen J. Peters told appeals court judges John Baker, Terry Crone and Robert Altice. “IU Health was dragged into the litigation.”

“The information being sought was information from former employees of Lutheran,” countered Jefferson.

“Every time a subpoena was issued somebody didn’t want to provide the information.”

After that heated back-and-forth, however, Bauer and Lutheran reached a settlement in November 2018. But IU Health’s legal fees remained an issue of contention.

And while an Indiana trial court ruled in IU Health’s favor over the fees, that ruling was the subject of the appeal Thursday by Lutheran Health Network.

“We did it exactly by the book,” said IU Health attorney Mark GiaQuinta. “We’re not required to remind them that there would be fees.”

Throughout the legal arguments, judges Baker, Crone and Altice peppered the attorneys with questions:

“Am I missing something?” asked Crone at one point.

“Why weren’t these people clairvoyant?” quipped Baker at another point.

Ultimately, the case was taken under advisement by the three judges, who will issue their decision at a later date. Following the courtroom proceedings, the judges fielded questions from the audience of students. They also attempted to put the morning’s proceedings into perspective.

“It’s called an argument,” said Baker, “but in fact it’s a conversation.”