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Mazoglu v. Lake Forest Hospital8/5/2005
Plaintiff, Erol Yorulmazoglu, appeals from the dismissal by the circuit court of Cook County, pursuant to section 2-619(a)(4) of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2-619(a)(4)(West 2002)), of his petition seeking to vacate an arbitration award entered in a proceeding between plaintiff, two other claimants, and defendant, Lake Forest Hospital. We affirm.
BACKGROUND
In August 1999, plaintiff, a physician, became an employee of defendant. Pursuant to a three-year employment agreement, plaintiff was employed as an oncologist in a division of the hospital named Deerpath Medical Associates. At the time, Deerpath Medical Associates (DMA) was staffed by approximately 32 physicians, all of whom had employment agreements with defendant. Pursuant to an arbitration clause in their employment agreements, plaintiff, along with fellow oncologists Rohit Shah (Shah) and Ira Piel (Piel)(collectively, the other two claimants), were claimants in an arbitration against defendant. The other two claimants initiated the arbitration on December 13, 2000. They also filed an action against defendant in the circuit court of Lake County (case No. 01 CH 14) (Lake County action). Plaintiff's attorney, who also represented the other two claimants, then requested that plaintiff be added to the arbitration. Defendant agreed, but requested that plaintiff also file a formal demand for arbitration. Plaintiff did so on March 15, 2001. Thereafter, plaintiff and the other two claimants pursued all of their claims together in the arbitration. The arbitration was pursued through the American Arbitration Association (AAA) as AAA case No. 51 160 00580 00.
In the arbitration, plaintiff and the other two claimants asserted breach of contract claims arising out of defendant's September 2000 unilateral decision to shut down DMA and its subsequent actions implementing that decision, which allegedly included offers of inducements and threats to other DMA physicians and the involuntary termination of those who did not cooperate. The arbitrator bifurcated the action into Phase I and Phase II. Phase I was limited to: (a) whether defendant had the right to terminate the physicians' employment agreements without cause; and (b) whether defendant breached a duty it owed to the claimants not to engage in an effort to break up DMA or to encourage substantially all other DMA physicians to leave the group and to actually implement such breakup without the consent of these physicians. At the end of the first phase, in a preliminary award, the arbitrator ruled in favor of claimants. All of the Phase I findings were confirmed in the final award at the end of Phase II. The arbitrator's final award found that defendant had breached its contracts with plaintiff and the other two claimants and that plaintiff was wrongfully discharged. The arbitrator also found, however, that all of the claimants failed to prove: (1) their breach of contract claim regarding billing and collection; (2) their claim that any alleged damages or loss of income were a result of the breach of contract; and (3) numerous other claims. As a result of the pending arbitration and the arbitrator's findings: (1) the other two claimants retained the value of their employment despite defendant's efforts to terminate them prior to the expiration of their employment contracts; (2) plaintiff remained employed for a year beyond the time most similarly situated physicians in his medical group were terminated or induced to leave the group; and (3) defendant was required to pay monetary damages to plaintiff and Piel. With respect to Phase I, the arbitrator awarded reasonable attorney fees to all claimants. In addition, the arbitrator awarded attorney fees to plaintiff and one
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