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Use this case as a model for my lawsuits

Use this as a model of what to do in my lawsuits.

1) "The case is fairly dormant," he said. "I could file for an entry of default, but there are no available assets, so there would be no point."

2) So Keenan filed a request for admissions, which requires the defendant in a lawsuit to respond to a number of direct questions within a set time. The time has not yet expired, but Normann has not responded, Keenan said.

3) If Normann fails to respond, Keenan said he will seek a judgment in his clients' favor.

Source

Anthem doctor who lost license disappears
2 families' lawsuits over deaths on hold
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 29, 2007 12:00 AM

Now that Dr. Peter Normann has lost his license to practice medicine, family members of two patients who died in his care are wondering what is next.

Normann is the liposuction doctor who had a practice in Anthem, where three people died during or after procedures between December 2006 and July 2007. The Arizona Medical Board revoked his license earlier this month, following testimony at an administrative hearing that his office practices constituted "a surgical nightmare."

Families of two of the victims, Ralph Gonzalez and Alicia Santizo, have filed lawsuits, and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate whether any laws were broken.

"The investigation still is not complete," said Capt. Paul Chagolla of the Sheriff's Office. "We hope to have something within the next week or two."

Barry Lewin, attorney for Gonzalez's mother, Grace, said he filed the suit "because she deserves an explanation" of what happened.

He said no one seems to know where Normann is. Normann dropped out of sight after his license was suspended in July, prior to his administrative hearing. He did not defend himself at the hearing or before the Medical Board when it voted on the license revocation.

"I don't have a clue where he is," Lewin said.

Normann does not have an attorney in either lawsuit.

Normann was served with court papers, Lewin said, but has not responded. Lewin said he does not expect a response.

"The case is fairly dormant," he said. "I could file for an entry of default, but there are no available assets, so there would be no point."

He said that Normann had no malpractice insurance and that his Anthem home probably has little equity.

Normann paid $375,000 for the house in August 2002, and prices in the neighborhood have doubled since then.

Normann and his wife refinanced for $450,000 in March 2005.

Kevin Keenan, who represents the Santizo family, said Normann did respond to his lawsuit with "a general denial."

But he added that several legal notices sent to Normann's Anthem address were returned as undeliverable, and Normann failed to show up for a deposition.

So Keenan filed a request for admissions, which requires the defendant in a lawsuit to respond to a number of direct questions within a set time. The time has not yet expired, but Normann has not responded, Keenan said.

If Normann fails to respond, Keenan said he will seek a judgment in his clients' favor.

He said he does not plan to consider Normann's assets until such a judgment is rendered.

"He has threatened to file for bankruptcy," Keenan said. "If a judgment forces him into bankruptcy, so be it."

 

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