By Brandon Thurston & Jason Ounpraseuth
The Connecticut Appellate Court on Wednesday dismissed Dr. Carlon Colker and his clinic’s appeal arising from Janel Grant’s petition in the lower court, in which she’s demanding records from the doctor she says Vince McMahon directed her to see.
Last December, Judge David Bothwell, who presides over the underlying case in Connecticut Superior Court, compelled Colker to produce billing statements that showed McMahon paid for Grant’s medical bills. Attorneys representing Colker and Peak Wellness Inc. filed an appeal in January.
With his appeal dismissed, Colker is now closer to being required to comply with the order and to hand Grant evidence that McMahon personally paid for her treatment.
Counsel for Colker did not immediately respond to an inquiry from POST Wrestling about whether their client would now comply with the order or might appeal further by petitioning the Connecticut Supreme Court to consider the issue. Representatives for Grant also did not provide comments.
Colker’s side pushed back against the Dec. 11 order, stating they’ve produced hundreds of pages of documents and complied in good faith with discovery and court directives.
Grant’s legal action in the lower court is not a conventional lawsuit, but a Bill of Discovery: a legal effort to require Colker to turn over evidence. Colker’s attorneys appealed because they argue that he had already provided Grant with enough evidence to file a traditional lawsuit if she wanted to, and that it was improper for the judge to require him to produce more evidence.
Medical records have been turned over, but there were disputes about billing or payment records, which were marked “paid” but don’t indicate who made the payments. Erica Nolan, an attorney for Grant, said in a Dec. 9 hearing that Colker’s counsel still has refused to produce the documents they requested.
Colker’s counsel argued that the documents requested go beyond the scope of discovery and that the additional documents would infringe on the defendants’ and McMahon’s rights and privacy interests.
Nolan has argued that the plaintiffs want an official record that McMahon paid for Grant’s medical bills and are not looking for personal information. At the hearing leading up to his order, Judge Bothwell questioned Frank Silvestri, an attorney for Colker, about how a paper trail of McMahon’s financial status would be difficult to find. Bothwell said it was the defendants’ responsibility to review the documents and decide what, if anything, falls under physician-patient privilege.
The matter between Colker and Grant is being litigated in state-level court in Connecticut, a different venue from the federal U.S. District Court in Connecticut, where Grant — a former WWE employee — is suing McMahon and WWE, alleging McMahon sexually assaulted and trafficked her. McMahon has denied the allegations, and the case is still pending.
In yet another separate case, Colker is suing one of Grant’s attorneys, Ann Callis, and her law firm for defamation. That case, which is also pending in federal court, arises from comments Callis made to the press, alleging that Grant was given infusions and pills at Peak Wellness that weren’t identified to her. Colker has vehemently denied the allegations.
