Lew v. Kona Hospital

After his hospital staff privileges were terminated, physician Barry Lew (plaintiff) sued Kona State Hospital and several individuals (defendants) for due-process, unfair-trade-practice, and defamation violations. Lew and his attorney received proper notice of a deposition, but because Lew lacked local counsel at the time, they concluded on their own that attending would be pointless and simply didn't show up, without telling the defendants of that decision. The defendants moved to dismiss based on Lew's nonappearance; the district court denied dismissal but ordered Lew to pay the defendants' attorney fees and costs tied to the deposition, and about a week later granted the defendants summary judgment on all of Lew's claims. Lew appealed both rulings.