Home Care In Rowley, IA

Two sets of lawyers are bringing competing complaints against the insurance company they accuse of mishandling an Iowa medical malpractice lawsuit that resulted in a record-setting $97 million jury verdict.

Andrew and Kathleen Kromphardt won the massive award in Johnson County against Obstetric and Gynecological Associates of Iowa City and Mercy Hospital after their son suffered serious brain injuries during birth in 2018. The jury award, believed to be the largest malpractice verdict in Iowa history, includes money for anticipated lifelong 24/7 care for the couple's son.

The massive verdict was one factor Iowa legislators cited when they passed laws to cap noneconomic damages in future malpractice cases — an outcome that, according to the clinic's lawyers, may have been the insurance company's goal from the start.

Attorney Nick Rowley, representing the clinic, sued Minnesota-based insurer MMIC on Nov. 21, accusing the company of acting in bad faith in refusing to settle the Kromphardts' case before trial, pressuring the clinic to improperly declare bankruptcy to avoid paying the bill, and using the resulting catastrophic results to lobby Iowa legislators to pass tort reform the company had been seeking for years.

But on Tuesday, attorneys representing the Kromphardts filed their own lawsuit over MMIC's alleged bad faith conduct toward the clinic.

Attorneys for the family say they control the rights to that claim to go toward the roughly $65 million they are still owed by the clinic. Their attorneys say a judge will have to decide who has the right to assert the clinic's claims going forward.

However the case proceeds, the parties are looking for significant money. The Kromphardts' complaint seeks damages from MMIC of more than $100 million. Rowley's goals are even more ambitious. The attorney previously told the Iowa Capital Dispatch he intended to sue the insurer for "more than $1 billion."

MMIC, for its part, is fighting back in multiple courts, including asking a federal judge to grant a restraining order preventing Rowley from further meddling in the Kromphardts' case against the clinic. A spokesperson told the Register the new lawsuits against MMIC contain "assertions that are simply untrue" and the company expects both will be dismissed.

Two arguments allege bad faith by MMIC

Even the Kromphardts' lawyers, who have no love for the clinic, allege the insurer poorly served the doctors there.

"The arrogance of MMIC is well beyond anything I've ever seen in my 45 years as a lawyer," attorney Jack Beam told the Register. "They never offered a penny (to settle), even though the doctors desperately wanted the case to settle."

The Kromphardts' complaint cites emails between the clinic's attorneys before trial, showing the doctors trying without success to get their insurer to agree to negotiate.

Ultimately, facing an unpayable debt to the Kromphardts worth tens of millions of dollars, the clinic sold itself to Mercy Hospital Iowa City, with its shareholder doctors becoming Mercy employees. The complaint states the shareholders "lost millions of dollars in reasonably expected profits and potential sale of the practice in the future."

Rowley, in his complaint, offers a motive for MMIC's alleged failure to deal in good faith, as well as subsequently pressuring the clinic to declare bankruptcy. The attorney, who has raised similar allegations in other lawsuits against MMIC, believes the insurer was trying, and succeeded, to pressure legislators into passing the tort reforms it wanted.

"This is a badly behaved insurance company that has a long history of bad behavior in Iowa," Rowley said in a statement. "MMIC needs to be held accountable for perverting their duties to insured Iowans, and for its successful efforts to defraud Iowa lawmakers into passing legislation that fundamentally violates the constitutional rights of Iowa healthcare patients.”

Where is the money, and who gets to sue?

The dueling lawsuits set up an awkward fight between the clinic and the Kromphardts, even before MMIC files any reply in court.

Court filings show that, to satisfy the outstanding jury verdict, the Kromphardts in July sent sheriff's deputies to take legal possession of the clinic's potential causes of action against MMIC, meaning the family gets to bring those claims on the clinic's behalf and, if successful, keep the proceeds.

Matt Patterson, another of the Kromphardts' attorneys, said they intend to argue to the court that they are the ones entitled to bring the clinic's claims against MMIC.

"(We will) intervene in the (clinic's) case and have the issues/cases consolidated for the judge to rule who is prosecuting the cause of the action, which we believe will be ruled on in our favor," he said in an email.

Rowley, via email, said he does not believe the Kromphardts can extinguish the clinic's right to bring its own claims, and that the family's attorneys are "jumping on the train that we have set in motion because we have the case against MMIC that has teeth to it."

Even if a court rules the Kromphardts have sole rights to the clinic's claims, Rowley said, his suit also brings claims on behalf of the three individual doctors who owned it, claims that the Kromphardts do not own — meaning the two sides will still likely have to cooperate against their mutual foe.

"The practical effect is that the (clinic) and the Kromphardt estate will have to work jointly to prosecute the case against MMIC under the law," Patterson said.

Supreme Court delays case, and MMIC responds

The back-to-back filings have roiled an already sprawling dispute.

In addition to suing MMIC, Rowley's complaint also brings legal malpractice claims against the Shuttleworth & Ingersoll law firm, which defended the clinic at the malpractice trial. The law firm, which did not respond to a request for comment, subsequently withdrew from that case over the resulting conflict of interest — two weeks before the clinic's appeal was to be argued before the Iowa Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, citing the shakeup of the legal team, Rowley asked the Supreme Court to postpone those oral arguments and allow more time for settlement negotiations. The same day, the court agreed, imposing a 60-day stay on the case.

In response, MMIC filed several motions Thursday asking the Supreme Court to lift the stay and let the case proceed. While the Shuttleworth law firm now has a conflict of interest, the clinic still has other competent appellate attorneys on the case, the company argued.

More importantly, the company says, Rowley has no right to postpone the case, conduct settlement negotiations or do anything else about the case, because the clinic's insurance policy gives MMIC the full right to control its legal defense.

"MMIC believes in the propriety of Dr. (Jill) Goodman’s care and has merely sought to have her conduct reviewed by this court," the insurer's attorneys argue. "It is telling that attorney Rowley is set on avoiding such review."

MMIC is also fighting back in federal court. In June, after Rowley was first hired by the clinic and began threatening to negotiate a settlement, the company asked a federal court to rule that it had the exclusive right to manage the clinic's legal defense, and that if the clinic were to dismiss or otherwise interfere with the appeal, it would void its malpractice insurance and abandon any bad faith legal claim against MMIC by doing so.

The federal court has not yet ruled in that case, and after Rowley asked the Iowa Supreme Court to postpone the case, MMIC returned to the federal court Wednesday with an emergency motion for a restraining order to prevent any further "interference" by Rowley.

The motion cites numerous examples of what the company believes are bad faith and conflicts of interest on Rowley's part. MMIC accuses Rowley of filing his lawsuit earlier this month specifically to force the Shuttleworth law firm off the case and delay the malpractice appeal; of colluding with the Kromphardts' attorneys despite, nominally, being opposing parties; and of acting against the clinic's legal interest to further his own grudge against MMIC.

With multiple pending cases, what next?

The timeline for the expanding dispute to move forward is unclear.

The Iowa Supreme Court has not scheduled a new oral argument date, or responded to MMIC's motion to lift the stay Rowley requested. The Kromphardts have not filed to intervene in Rowley's suit against MMIC, and MMIC has not yet filed a response to either of the bad-faith suits against it.

In MMIC's federal case, the court has given Rowley until Dec. 8 to respond to the emergency restraining order request.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at [email protected], 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.

Wayne Rowley's always been a "hold my beer and watch this" kind of guy.

The retired Iowa State professor proved that much when he jumped out of a plane to celebrate his 85th birthday this summer.

After George H.W. Bush skydived for his 80th, Rowley, of Ames, told himself he’d do the same if he made it to 85. In the meantime, the longtime Cyclone researcher and professor, globetrotter and expert fisherman embarked on annual solo trips to Siberia's isolated Kamchatka peninsula — a fly fisherman's paradise.

The timing of this year's Russian Far East quest pushed Rowley's skydive up to July, as the octogenarian would be knee-deep in Pacific salmon come his Aug. 27 birthday.

As the oldest person “by a factor of three” at Des Moines Skydivers in Winterset, Iowa, Rowley doesn't recall feeling even a tinge of fear.

“There was never any question or anxiety or concern about doing this," he said. "Life is to be lived, not to be wasted sitting around, feeling sorry for yourself."

Rowley said the tandem jump — and the subsequent 2-mile free fall — was pure bliss. He said he only remembers laughing with every swoop and spin in the air.

"I can't wait to go again," he said, smiling. He plans to jump again in the spring.

Rowley moved back to Ames last year from another retirement community in Maine after his wife, Annette, passed away following a long battle with dementia. The two were born in Price, Utah, and both attended Utah State before earning advanced degrees at Washington State while raising two sons and a daughter.

Rowley earned a Ph.D in medical entomology and went on to work for the government's chemical and biological warfare program in the 1960s. He then began a 40-year teaching career at Iowa State while Annette taught English at Ames High School.

Their 10-year-old cat, Ben, keeps him good company now. As do his neighbors at Green Hills Retirement Community, near the Iowa State campus, who take care of Ben while Rowley is traveling, pheasant hunting and fly fishing.

"The people on this floor, I have never met more delightful people in my life," Rowley said. The group shares puzzles, drinks and meals. Being social, he insists, is one of the few keys to staying healthy.

Another is continuing to read and think; Rowley still attends and gives lectures on campus. A scholarship in his name is awarded to one Iowa State entomology student each year.

After 34 countries, six continents and one skydive, Rowley says Ames is still home.

"Iowa State is still the most significant aspect of my life. And if you've ever been on campus, you understand why."

An Iowa physician who sued her former malpractice insurer has lost her case after the court ruled her claims were blocked by a previous ruling in Minnesota state courts.

As a pathologist at the Iowa Clinic, Dr. Joy Trueblood was sued along with her employer after a lab mix-up led the clinic to incorrectly diagnose a Panora man with prostate cancer, resulting in unnecessary surgery to remove the healthy organ. The case went to trial in 2019, and a Polk County jury awarded the man $12.25 million in damages.

Trueblood, who took early retirement after that case, in turn filed suit in a Minnesota state court in 2020 against MMIC, the Minneapolis-area insurance company that represented her and the Iowa Clinic and, she claimed, wrongly put the blame for the error on her and unwisely decided to take the case to trial.

Nick Rowley, the attorney for the plaintiff in the case against her and the Iowa Clinic, represented her against MMIC. He has represented a number of Iowa patients who have won large malpractice verdicts, and has claimed in court filings and public statements that MMIC has repeatedly refused to settle cases of even obvious medical error, resulting in jury verdicts far larger than what the company could have paid in settlements. MMIC denies the claims.

For subscribers:Lawsuit: Malpractice insurer mishandled case that led to $12M verdict for wrongful prostate removal

Representing Trueblood, he argued the company had breached its "duty of good faith and fair dealing" to Trueblood and violated Iowa law.

The Minnesota district court ultimately dismissed the lawsuit, finding that Trueblood was incorrectly seeking to apply Iowa law in Minnesota court, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling. In 2022, Trueblood and Rowley filed the same claims again, this time in Iowa court.

Judge: Can't refile case after MN dismissal

MMIC filed for judgment against Trueblood, arguing that the dismissal of the Minnesota case was binding and forbade her from bringing the same claims in any other jurisdiction. It also asked the court to sanction Rowley for filing a "frivolous" lawsuit.

Trueblood, through Rowley, argued the new lawsuit was permitted because the Minnesota case was not decided on the merits of her claim.

In her Jan. 31 order, District Judge Samantha Gronewald agreed with MMIC that the case should be dismissed, citing the U.S. Constitution's dictate that each state give "full faith and credit" to the acts and court proceedings of other states.

"Dr. Trueblood’s petition is barred as a matter of law in Iowa pursuant to the full faith and credit clause of the United States Constitution," Gronewald wrote.

Gronewald, however, denied MMIC's request for sanctions against Rowley, finding his arguments the Iowa lawsuit should proceed had not been legally unreasonable. She also declined to sanction Rowley for his conduct outside the courtroom, including issuing news releases and complaining about MMIC to the Iowa insurance commissioner.

"It is not for the court to wade into the fray of tactics counsel may choose to engage in, whether warranted or exaggerated, outside of the courthouse and realm of formal litigation proceedings," she wrote.

Legislators considering malpractice caps

MMIC and its parent company Constellation Mutual applauded the ruling.

“MMIC continues to be sympathetic to all parties involved, and we are pleased with the court’s decision to dismiss the frivolous lawsuit,” Constellation General Counsel Nicholas Ghiselli said in an email.

Rowley said via a spokesperson that he plans to appeal.

“Patients and families need bad faith law developed in Iowa to hold insurance companies accountable for behavior that they would not get away with in other states," he wrote. "We disagree with the trial judge’s decision, which is why we have Courts of Appeal and a Supreme Court in Iowa. Hopefully, they will see things differently and protect patients and families across the state."

Previously:Family of Iowa boy is awarded $97 million in medical malpractice lawsuit — a likely record

The decision comes as Iowa legislators are considering bills that would put caps on the damages available in medical malpractice cases. Trueblood testified at the Capitol in January to oppose the proposed caps.

"Patients and lawsuits are not the problem in Iowa," Trueblood told legislators. "The problem is the medical malpractice insurance industry. They are not managing their risk properly, and they are not protecting the doctors they insure."

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at [email protected], 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.

Incorporating outcome data into AI models can lead to continuous improvement.

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Government agencies may have a new way to improve decision-making backed by data and predictive analytics models, according to General Services Administration Chief Data Officer Kris Rowley.

The proposed model takes preexisting predictive analytics models’ outcome data and feeds it back into the models in a way that includes that data in future analytics and predictions, creating a positive feedback loop that integrates machine learning into decision-making.

Traditional predictive models apply transactional data to analytics and predictions processes, which in turn help inform a decision, Rowley said at ACT-IAC’s Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Automation Forum Wednesday. This is a three-step process that ends at the decision, but Rowley wants to reapply those final results to the model, creating a cycle of improvement rather than a linear process.

“We’re starting to understand that we can take outcome data and feed it back into models to help better predict future events,” Rowley said.

Rowley’s proposed process does not just mean feeding any outcomes back into the model, however. It is key to create requirements and a methodology to determine how to use outcomes in building predictive models.

At the IA/AI forum, Rowley presented five guidelines he values in applying his methodology to building models. These are to:

“We have to build the attributes around the data to make sure that we can build a predictive model, and then, how do you use that model to inform decision making?” Rowley said. “Once this is built up, you have to explain it. … We have to explain how these models can help decision-makers make better and more informed decisions.”

Rowley also stressed his final point on improving predictive models over time, explaining that improvement must be a constant process.

“As soon as you’ve developed the model and you start to make predictions, you’re starting to incur more information and more outcome data and more variables and more ways to putting data into this environment to do better prediction predictability,” Rowley said. “There is a never-ending churn of work that needs to be done to manage and maintain models.”

Even with this guidance in mind, Rowley said that outcome data quality and creating definitions for success in outcome data are some of the biggest challenges in building predictive models.

“The quality of that [outcome] data — it has to be very high quality and labeled correctly and tracked and stored directly to the feedback in, so I think the outcome data and how we manage it is the part that we really need to focus on,” Rowley said.

Rowley’s discussion of using AI and predictive analytics to loop data back into models recurred in other presentations at the forum.

The Treasury Department, for example, launched a chatbot service for its contact centers throughout the country. These call centers were misdirecting 75% of calls they received, said Treasury Program Analyst Jennifer Hill. In improving the call services and chatbot, Hill’s team has used a similar strategy that Rowley has used: applying AI feedback to the AI model to make continuous upgrades.

“AI enables AI,” Hill concluded.

[email protected]

As lawyers and patients announced a major lawsuit against a Des Moines hospital Friday, Stephen Glass stood silent and unnoticed behind the television cameras and journalists.

But Glass, a former star journalist for the New Republic magazine, is no stranger to controversy or being the center of attention. His journalism career famously unraveled in 1998 after accusations that led to the discovery of fabrications in more than 40 pieces he'd written for the New Republic and other publications.

The saga was portrayed in a 2003 movie, "Shattered Glass," and the former journalist authored his own fictionalized account in a book, "The Fabulist." Glass earned a law degree from Georgetown University, but has been denied a law license from both New York and California due to the infamous scandal and questions over his truthfulness and character.

Glass now works for a California law firm, Carpenter, Zuckerman and Rowley, as the director of special projects, helping prepare clients who come to the personal injury firm to tell their stories at trial.

But he also works in the same capacity for Trial Lawyers for Justice, a firm based in Decorah that was founded by Nicholas Rowley, an Iowa native and partner in the California firm.

Glass stood toward the back of the room — often looking at his phone — at the Friday news conference at a West Des Moines law firm.

He watched as Rowley announced the expected filing of more than 100 lawsuits against Iowa Methodist Medical Center on behalf of patients who were affected by a pharmacy technician stealing powerful painkillers during their stays at the hospital. Former patients sat in rows behind Rowley as he accused the hospital of neglecting its duties to keep patients safe.

Glass politely declined to speak with a Des Moines Register reporter, citing the ongoing nature of the litigation against the hospital. But Glass spoke about his work in a 2014 article by journalist Hanna Rosin, explaining that he develops relationships with clients to better understand their life circumstances and stories. The work helps attorneys better prepare for trials and anticipate issues that might come up during litigation, he told Rosin.

"It’s not manipulation; it’s caring," Glass said. "I don’t coach the clients; I help them discover their story. ... It makes me anxious to do this. But I work from facts that are indisputably true. Maybe the anxiety comes from being afraid to be accused of lying again.”

Glass revealed last year that he has repaid $200,000 to the New Republic and other publications, according to the Duke Chronicle.