Doctor can’t sue over criticism
A South Korean fertility scientist and prominent Los Angeles business owner was prevented Monday from suing a Riverside doctor who had criticized his work.
Kwang-Yul Cha, who has run hospitals and research labs in Los Angeles and South Korea, accused Dr. Bruce Flamm of attacking him repeatedly in various publications after Cha published a 2001 study indicating that prayer might help women overcome fertility problems.
Judge James R. Dunn in Los Angeles County Superior Court wrote Monday in his tentative ruling that Cha’s suit could “chill the exercise of free speech and healthy debate within the medical peer review system.” The decision was based on a state law intended to stop frivolous lawsuits that could limit public discourse.
-- William Heisel
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
