Henry R. Fenton

Fenton, who began his career in 1970, started out as a legal services lawyer at the Western Center on Law and Poverty. Later, he represented unions as a labor lawyer. Among his early clients was the Union of American Physicians & Dentists, leading him to expand his employment law expertise within the health care field.

Today, at the 12-lawyer firm he launched in 2014, doctors and nurses and other health care providers are among his clients in cases over fraud and abuse claims, anti-kickback matters and other litigation involving the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, HIPAA, long-term care, behavioral health and alcohol and substance abuse.

“I represent the underdog,” he said. “Starting with the physicians and dentists’ union, I have continuously helped doctors and medical groups. I feel like I’m doing good work.” He is careful not to identify his clients.

In August, Fenton prevailed on behalf of a doctor who had been reprimanded by the Medical Board of California after his employee allegedly issued unlawful and unauthorized prescriptions for controlled substances. Although an administrative law judge initially concluded that the doctor was liable for his employee’s actions, Fenton and colleagues successfully petitioned the Los Angeles County Superior Court to vacate the imposed discipline. His winning argument: a physician who institutes reasonable safeguards should not be disciplined on a vicarious liability theory.

In June, Fenton and colleagues Nicholas D. Jurkowitz and Dennis E. Lee filed another successful petition in the case of a physician placed on five years’ probation by the Medical Board. They contended that the client’s due process rights were violated and the board prejudicially abused its discretion when findings it weighed were not supported by the evidence. The court ordered the board to reconsider the matter; its new ruling granted early termination of the probation.

In October 2020, Fenton and Lee represented a group of infectious-disease doctors who sued the University of Southern California and others over an alleged illegal kickback and referral scheme in which USC paid below market rates for hospitalist services from other providers. Fenton’s clients claimed they stopped receiving referrals in retaliation when one of them complained about the scheme. A trial court sustained USC’s demurrer, but a state appellate panel reversed. The case remains in progress.

Fenton is preparing for trial in the case of a doctor and full professor terminated by UCLA over his investigation of the cause of severe neonatal injury of a baby delivered at the school’s medical center.

As ever, Fenton is staunchly in his client’s corner. “I graduated from UCLA and I can’t believe they did this,” he said. “He’s a great doctor.”

--John Roemer