Dr. Carlon Colker and his medical practice, Peak Wellness, have filed a federal lawsuit against Janel Grant’s attorney, Ann Callis.
The suit claims Callis defamed him and his clinic through public statements and legal filings connected to her representation of Janel Grant. The former WWE employee is currently suing Vince McMahon and WWE in a separate civil case, alleging sex trafficking and sexual assault.
The complaint, filed last Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, alleges Callis engaged in a “smear campaign” against Colker, characterizing him as unethical and complicit in the alleged abuse of Grant by McMahon. Colker’s attorneys say that Callis knowingly made false and defamatory statements last year about Colker in legal filings and to the media.
The Holland Law Firm, where Callis is a partner, is also a named defendant in the case.
In her legal representation of Grant, Callis filed a petition at the state level in July last year in the Connecticut Superior Court, alleging that Colker prescribed Grant pills and I.V. infusions without disclosing to her the substance of those materials. Grant, through Callis, alleges she was directed by McMahon to seek treatment at Colker’s clinic from 2019 through 2022.
Colker has denied giving Grant any improper treatment and states that he has provided medical records that Callis has requested on behalf of Grant multiple times. Colker’s new lawsuit provided exhibits that his attorneys say show him providing the records requested and Grant’s counsel acknowledging receipt.
Grant is referred to only as “Patient” in the complaint, possibly to frame the matter within the bounds of the doctor-patient relationship. However, the description provided makes it apparent that the individual in question is Janel Grant.
As a result of Callis’s statements, Colker’s lawyers state that he and his clinic “have suffered substantial harm, including reputational damage, loss of professional standing, and economic injury.” The complaint claims the plaintiffs have been subject to “public scorn, distrust, and financial losses.”
Colker’s complaint focuses on public statements by Callis provided to the media on October 15 last year, which his attorneys assert were false and defamatory.
“Imagine being at your most vulnerable, and the doctor you are told to see only makes you feel worse,” said Ann Callis, attorney for Janel Grant. “Our filing today makes clear that Dr. Colker violated ethical and medical standards when he injected unknown substances into Janel’s body and directed her to take unlabeled pills while dismissing her basic questions about those drugs. Peak Wellness owes Janel Grant answers and the clinic’s secrecy and evasion must come to an end.”
Callis also participated in a media call on October 15, reiterating Grant’s allegations against Colker and his clinic. The lawsuit specifically points to the following comments from Callis on the press call, which Colker’s attorneys state were part of an “extrajudicial defamatory campaign” to influence the litigation Grant and Colker were already involved in and to “inflict reputational harm” on the doctor and his clinic.
Due to the abuse she suffered, Janel [Grant] was desperate for medical help, and she trusted licensed professionals to approach her care with the utmost seriousness. Dr. Colker instead violated ethical and medical standards and routinely broke the doctor-patient trust integral to proper treatment.
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At Peak Wellness, Dr. Colker who runs the clinic also directed Janel to take mystery pills daily and forced her to accept intravenous infusions of unknown contents.
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Dr. Colker was on McMahon’s payroll and obtained access to Janel’s private medical records, dictated her treatments, and often coerced Janel into continuing her treatments at Peak Wellness.
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We also know that she was getting progressively worse. Even the records we received that are incomplete show that she was not getting any better with these treatments, with these infusions, with these unknown pills.
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Imagine, you know, trying to seek medical attention for feeling emotionally and physically drained and headaches and everything else that comes with trauma to your body and you just get worse.
Colker points to Grant’s medical records, which he says the defendants possess and which, he claims, show that Grant was never forced to undergo intravenous infusions or directed to take unknown substances. The complaint goes on to state that Grant had informed consent about her treatment and participated in decisions related to it. At no time was she ever coerced into taking any medication, the lawsuit says.
A request for comment to representatives working with Callis in her representation of Grant was not returned.
In a filing submitted in February on behalf of Grant, her counsel stated that Colker’s attorneys in that case “admitted” that McMahon paid for Grant’s treatment at the clinic and that Colker was still withholding medical records that she was requesting.
Media coverage of Callis’s October 15 statements is detailed in the complaint, including news articles and a social media post by this reporter. Colker’s representatives state Callis’s comments “severely damaged” his and the clinic’s reputation.
Colker is represented in the new case by attorneys, including Alejandro Brito of Brito, PLLC. Brito also represented Donald Trump in his federal defamation lawsuit against ABC, which reportedly resulted in a $15 million settlement in Trump’s favor in December.
Grant’s petition against Colker for medical records in state court in Connecticut — in which Colker is represented by different attorneys from Verrill Dana, LLP — is still pending. Colker is seeking to have it dismissed. The judge has yet to make a ruling.
Colker filed his own petition against Grant in the same court last August, citing possible defamation claims at that time, but that action was withdrawn a month later without explanation.
Colker is asking the federal court to order Callis and her law firm to pay damages for reputational and financial harm, as well as additional punitive damages because he claims her statements were knowingly false and malicious. He’s also asking to be reimbursed for legal costs.
An email to Colker’s attorneys representing him in the new federal lawsuit requesting additional comments for this report was not returned.
