On June 28, 2006, plaintiff Michael Fitzgibbons M.D., an infectious disease specialist in his 50s, was arrested in the employee parking lot at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, where he had been chief of staff. Earlier in the day, Santa Ana Police received two anonymous 911 calls claiming that a driver of a vehicle with Fitzgibbons’ license plate number was waving a gun in traffic. The police subsequently stopped Fitzgibbons in the Western Medical Center parking lot and arrested him after they found a handgun and black gloves in his car. Fitzgibbons was taken to Santa Ana city jail, where he was strip-searched and fingerprinted, and his car was impounded. However, he was never charged because his fingerprints were not found on the gun and there were no eyewitnesses. As a result, Fitzgibbons was ultimately released. He claimed that he thought someone was trying to set him up, and that he feared attempts to set him up were still being made when he picked his car up from the impound and found a bag of what appeared to be drugs inside. A little over two years later, on July 16, 2008, Fitzgibbons’ daughter flipped her car over on State Route 22. She was not injured in the accident. Fitzgibbons claimed that he discovered that someone had slashed a tire on his daughter’s car, as well as on his wife’s car. He claimed that as a result, he feared for his family’s safety and hired a private investigator, who confirmed that there was a two-inch slash in one of the tires. Fitzgibbons believed that the owner of Western Medical Center was behind his arrest and the slashing of the tires. Thus, Fitzgibbons sued the owner of Western Medical Center, Integrated Healthcare Holdings Inc. He alleged that Integrated Healthcare attempted to destroy his medical practice and harm his daughter, in retaliation of him winning a whistleblowing lawsuit against the company. Thus, Fitzgibbons alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted defamation, interference with prospective economic advantage, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Fitzgibbons contended that in May 2005, he sent an e-mail to colleagues at Western Medical raising his concern over Integrated Healthcare taking over the hospital because the company just defaulted on a $50 million loan. Integrated Healthcare officials got wind of the e-mail and sued Fitzgibbons for slander and interfering with business practices. Fitzgibbons subsequently countersued, arguing freedom of speech. Fitzgibbons ultimately prevailed in June 2006, while the court threw out Integrated Healthcare’s underlying action. Fitzgibbons claimed that after the ruling on the prior actions, a series of retaliatory events began two weeks later, starting with the gun and gloves being planted in his car. He claimed that the person at the forefront of the gun-planting, and attempts to sabotage his daughter and wife’s vehicles, was Bruce Mogel, the chief executive officer of Integrated Healthcare. Plaintiff’s counsel called Integrated Healthcare’s former president, Larry Anderson, who testified under-oath both at deposition and at trial that after Fitzgibbons prevailed on the lawsuit, Mogel told him that the doctor needed to be “humbled.” Anderson alleged that Mogel sought out a man named Mikey Delgado to plant the gun, and paid him with a $10,000 check written out to Form Labs, Delgado’s web-design company. Plaintiff’s counsel noted that the company was later determined to be a front, created to cover up Delgado’s payment for the gun-planting. Anderson further testified that Mogel found pleasure in Fitzgibbons being arrested, as they watched it from inside Western Medical Center, and even remarked, “People don’t know powerful I am.” In addition, plaintiff’s counsel contended that when the Integrated Healthcare’s board acknowledged the $10,000 payment to Delgado, after Anderson’s 2008 deposition, Mogel was given an eight-month consultancy worth $43,750 per month. Thus, plaintiff’s counsel argued that the board “knew what Mogel did to Fitzgibbons” and that “they ratified it, and they gave him a golden handshake goodbye.” Counsel further argued that despite having knowledge of Mogel’s connection to Delgado, the Integrated Healthcare board never notified the police. Integrated Healthcare claimed that it was not liable for, and had no knowledge of, Mogel’s alleged actions. It also claimed that the consultancy fee Mogel received was a means to rid him from the company and paid him less than he was owed in his contract. Defense counsel argued that Anderson lied during his deposition, specifically regarding the claim that he and Mogel watched Fitzgibbons get arrested from inside Western Medical Center. Counsel contended that during the time of the arrest, Mogel was in Florida. Thus, defense counsel challenged Anderson’s credibility as a witness. However, in response, Anderson claimed that he got the dates confused over the years, but that the conversation with Mogel did happen. Defense counsel argued that Integrated Healthcare was the real victim, both of Mogel and Anderson, as well as of Fitzgibbons. Counsel contended that Fitzgibbons constantly tried to sabotage Integrated Healthcare after his bid to purchase Western Medical Center failed and that Fitzgibbons set up a ploy in which he was a victim of the company’s alleged retaliatory actions., Fitzgibbons claimed that the saga destroyed his medical practice, as people became afraid to be around him. He further claimed that he suffered extensive trauma and emotional distress following his arrest and his daughter’s car accident. Thus, Fitzgibbons sought recovery of $46.8 million in total damages, which included punitive damages for the defendant’s malice, oppression and fraud.