The appeal of a decision in a civil lawsuit that a patient filed against a former Sitka Community Hospital doctor likely will proceed for years, an attorney in the case said.
A Sitka jury last Dec. 9 said Dr. Richard McGrath was not liable for alleged medical malpractice and sexual assault of Breanna Wampler – now Breanna Martin – and as a result Martin was possibly on the hook for about $104,000 in attorney's fees, attorneys in the case told the Sentinel.
“The plaintiffs have appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, and that's basically where we are in the early stages. It'll probably be a couple of years before that's resolved, given the way the Supreme Court operates, and their backlog,” said Howard Lazar, the lawyer representing the city of Sitka in the suit.
The ongoing lawsuit is a civil case, which can impose financial penalties but cannot result in further jail time for McGrath, who in 2023 pleaded guilty to sexual assault in the third degree, a felony, against three Sitka women. He was sentenced to 17 years, with 15 of those suspended.
Martin and her attorney, local lawyer Jim McGowan, filed an appeal of the court’s conclusion in the civil case on February 6.
“Should the Supreme Court agree that the trial court erred, it would reverse the decision made in the first trial. This would result in the case being sent back to the Sitka Superior Court for a retrial,” McGowan said.
Like Lazar, McGowan noted that the Alaska Supreme Court is not likely to resolve the case quickly, and the appellate process will take years.
As McGrath was a physician at Sitka Community Hospital at the time of the alleged offense, the city is named as a co-defendant in the suit, though the specific claims made against McGrath and the city are not the same, he noted.
Lazar said the claims against the city are baseless.
“The claims against Sitka – they were basically that we failed to properly hire, supervise, and that we were responsible for his alleged acts,” said Lazar, an attorney with the Anchorage law firm Farley and Graves. “There was virtually no evidence at all in support of those claims, and that's why some of those claims were dismissed on summary judgment, and the remainder of the claims against Sitka were dismissed by directed verdict.”
Superior Court Judge Amanda Browning, who presided at the trial, awarded attorney’s fees totaling $104,00 – with about half to be paid to McGrath and half to the city.
“We're willing, and have been willing, to forego those costs and fees that she owes us, if she simply agrees to recognize what the reality is – that she really has no basis for a claim against Sitka,” Lazar said. It’s possible, he added, for Martin to drop her claim against the city while maintaining her case against McGrath.
The amount owed was calculated under Rule 68, which does not allow the court to vary the award for any reason.
