Judge to Hear All 4 ‘Angel of Death’ Suits

A judge on Friday took jurisdiction over all four civil lawsuits against the self-proclaimed “Angel of Death” and his employer, Glendale Adventist Medical Center, by families of Efren Saldivar’s alleged victims.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Carl J. West ruled the cases are related and, under court rules, determined that he should preside over all of them, instead of having four different judges handle the four separate cases.

The families of five of Saldivar’s alleged victims have sued the respiratory therapist and the hospital for wrongful death. One of the cases was dismissed by the lawyers Thursday for lack of evidence.

The civil lawsuits, which have lingered in the court system, were filed after Saldivar confessed in 1998 to killing 40 to 50 patients. He later recanted and police have spent three years investigating his alleged crimes.

Earlier this month, Saldivar, 31, was charged with murder in the deaths of six patients with a muscle-relaxing drug between December 1996 and August 1997. Only one of the four remaining civil cases involves a victim allegedly killed by Saldivar.

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At Friday’s hearing, West set an informal status conference with the lawyers for early March.

At that time, the judge said he would expect to consider a request by lawyers to delay the civil proceedings against Saldivar and the Glendale hospital until the criminal case is concluded. Such a request, he said, has not yet been made.

In addition, West said he will consider a motion to move the cases--plus any new ones filed--to a downtown Los Angeles courtroom that specializes in the handling of complex litigation.

He also noted that two of the four pending suits could be thrown out of court because the defendants have not yet been served, violating court notification rules.

West had tentatively ruled to throw out a fifth case, involving the death of 91-year-old John N. Schwartz, but the ruling was moot because lawyers agreed Thursday to dismiss the claim.