Cleveland Clinic secures Sixth Circuit victory in lawsuit brought by City of Cleveland challenging hospital closure

Client(s) Cleveland Clinic Foundation

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, represented by Jones Day, prevailed in a challenge by the City of Cleveland and Mayor Frank Jackson to the Cleveland Clinic's decision to close Huron Hospital, a hospital located in the City of East Cleveland, for safety and patient concerns. Due to changing population demographics, the hospital was significantly underutilized, leading to patient safety concerns. The Cleveland Clinic's medical staff ultimately decided that these changing conditions required the closure of the hospital, which was replaced with the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Health Center. In federal court, the City of Cleveland alleged that the closure violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d, and constituted a breach of a charitable trust and breach of contract. Jones Day successfully opposed the City of Cleveland's motion for a temporary restraining order in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and, later, secured a dismissal of the case. In the Sixth Circuit, Jones Day successfully argued that the appeal should be dismissed as moot because the hospital had closed in the interim.

City of Cleveland v. Cleveland Clinic Foundation, No. 11-4095 (6th Cir. June 19, 2012); Jackson v. Cleveland Clinic Foundation, No. 1:11-cv-1334 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 9, 2011)