Despite repeated requests from Erlanger Health System, a lawyer for Hutcheson Medical Center says his side has no more information to disclose.
Georgia Rep. Tom Weldon, R-Ringgold, filed a response March 3 to Erlanger's motion for discovery in U.S. District Court. The two hospitals have been suing each other for two years, and Erlanger has demanded documents from Hutcheson it believes would help it prepare for a trial.
This is the third time Hutcheson has responded to Erlanger's request. The first two times, Hutcheson provided documents. This time, Weldon said, there is no information left to give.
Technically, Weldon represents the Hospital Authority of Catoosa, Dade and Walker counties - the board that governs Hutcheson. Weldon's father, Dr. Darrell Weldon, is on that board.
"There are no other known documents that are responsive to the request," Tom Weldon wrote in a recent affidavit.
In April 2011, Erlanger and Hutcheson entered an agreement for Erlanger to run the Fort Oglethorpe hospital's day-to-day operations. As part of the deal, Erlanger loaned Hutcheson $20 million. The elected officials of Catoosa and Walker counties agreed to pay Erlanger back if Hutcheson couldn't.
The management agreement ended in late 2013, after Erlanger went deeper into a relationship with a 10-year lease of Hutcheson's property.
Erlanger filed a federal lawsuit in February 2014 demanding repayment of the $20 million loan, plus millions more in interest. Hutcheson countersued that June, saying Erlanger intentionally mismanaged Hutcheson, causing it to fail. Hutcheson's lawyers demanded damages in excess of $20 million.
In March 2015, Erlanger filed a motion to compel, asking Hutcheson for documents pertaining to 25 questions. Hutcheson responded, saying Erlanger could not have most of the information it wanted for various reasons: attorney-client privilege, joint defense/common interest privilege or attorney work-product doctrine. It said some documents requested exceed the scope of what Erlanger is entitled to see.
Erlanger's lawyers demanded more.
"[We have] received nine documents, implausible representations that no further documents exist, and no privilege log," attorney Edward Marshall wrote.
He continued: "Although Erlanger would like to spare the Court from motion practice related to discovery, it is candidly at a loss as to what other options are available to it to address the Hospital Authority's lack of participation in the discovery process."
Hutcheson provided more documents in August, but Erlanger said that still wasn't enough.
Of the 25 questions Erlanger has asked, according to Hutcheson's filing in August, Hutcheson has provided some sort of documentation for 15.
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at tjett@times freepress.com or at 423-757-6476.