Kim v. St. Elizabeth's Hospital of the Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis

State: Illinois

Court: 5th District Appellate

Docket No: 5-08-0571 Rel

Case Date: 10/23/2009

Preview:NO. 5-08-0571
N O T IC E Decision filed 10/23/09. The text of this dec ision m ay b e changed or corrected prior to the P e t i ti o n for filing of a or the

IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

Re hea ring

FIFTH DISTRICT ________________________________________________________________________ KYOUNG SUK KIM, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellant, ) St. Clair County. ) v. ) No. 07-L-319 ) ) ST. ELIZABETH'S HOSPITAL OF THE ) HOSPITAL SISTERS OF THE THIRD ) ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS, HOSPITAL ) SISTERS HEALTH SYSTEMS, CHARLES ) W. COURTNEY, JR., and COURTNEY, ) CLARK & ASSOCIATES, P.C., ) Honorable ) Lloyd A. Cueto, Defendants-Appellees. ) Judge, presiding. ________________________________________________________________________ PRESIDING JUSTICE WEXSTTEN delivered the opinion of the court: The plaintiff, Kyoung Suk Kim, filed this action in the circuit court of St. Clair County alleging that the defendants, St. Elizabeth's Hospital of the Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis (St. Elizabeth's Hospital), Hospital Sisters Health Systems, Charles W. Courtney, Jr. (Courtney), and Courtney, Clark & Associates, P.C. (Courtney & Associates), violated Illinois law during a prior divorce proceeding by requesting and disclosing, without authorization, her confidential mental health records. The circuit court dismissed Kim's action. We affirm in part and reverse in part. BACKGROUND The previous divorce proceeding began on January 4, 2005, when Kim filed a petition for a judgment of the dissolution of her marriage. In re Marriage of Stuhldreher, No. 05-D06 (2005). Courtney of Courtney & Associates represented Kim's then-husband, Christopher

disposition of the same.

1

Stuhldreher. Prior to January 11, 2005, Kim's counsel served upon Millie Ogle, a nurse at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a subpoena without an accompanying court order, requesting her presence as a witness to testify on Kim's behalf at a rehearing on an emergency order of protection against Kim. On January 11, 2005, Ogle and St. Elizabeth's Hospital moved to quash the subpoena pursuant to the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act (Mental Health Confidentiality Act) (740 ILCS 110/1 et seq. (West 2004)) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) (45 C.F.R.

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