Fenton Law Group LLP

For Fenton Law Group, the pandemic changed more than whether its lawyers and staff worked in the office or at their homes. It also brought the health care law specialists new types of cases.

The firm’s dozen attorneys represent health care providers, like physicians, psychologists and nurses, in business transactions and in litigation and other disputes with hospitals and state licensing boards.

On the transactions side of the practice, several clients needed help early on as they organized and opened virus testing facilities, according to Benjamin J. Fenton, one of the firm’s co-managing partners. “That was a hot issue for a little while,” he said.

More challenging were the many new regulations and policies put in place by governments and hospitals. Nurses, for instance, “have to understand how to be COVID compliant when they’re seeing patients, how to make sure a room is sterile, and so forth,” he said.

Fenton is handling a case now for a nurse accused by a hospital of breaching the sterilization of a patient room. The matter has been referred to the state board, putting the nurse’s license at risk. “If a nurse violates a hospital policy, the board can take the position that that’s unprofessional,” he said.

The firm also represented some providers who were hesitant to return to in-person work when hospitals or medical practices ordered them back. One client is a doctor who is overweight. Obesity is a virus risk factor, but “is that a disability?” Fenton asked.

Fenton Law Group began in 2014 when a group of lawyers led by Henry R. Fenton broke off from what had been the respected health care firm of Fenton Nelson LLP. The new firm has grown slowly but steadily since then. Most of the attorneys handle both litigation and business deals, except for partner Beth Kase, who chairs the firm’s regulatory and transactional practices.

Transactions make up roughly 40 percent of the firm’s work. For instance, Benjamin Fenton is currently doing due diligence for a practitioner purchasing a therapy company. “We have a lot of entrepreneurial clients,” he said.

On the litigation side, the firm achieved appellate victories last October in a pair of lawsuits brought by doctors against hospitals. In one, the court ruled that an anesthesiologist was entitled to a new trial to prove he was wrongly terminated by the Kern Medical Center.

The second alleged a kickback scheme among a USC hospital and two medical groups over referrals of on-call physicians to the hospital. The court overruled a demurrer against a medical practice the Fenton firm represents. Alborzi v. University of Southern California, 55 Cal.App.5th 155 (Cal. App. 2nd Dist., Sept. 29, 2020).

A large portion of the law firm’s practice involves defending doctors and other providers facing discipline from state regulatory and licensing boards. For instance, this August, the firm won a writ from the Los Angeles Superior Court ordering the Medical Board of California to not discipline a doctor whose employee had issued unauthorized prescriptions for dangerous substances.

Fenton said the firm’s attorneys enjoy their work because they understand how important the work is for their clients. “It’s rewarding because there’s really a lot at stake for the clients,” he said.

— Don DeBenedictis