1

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI

AT KANSAS CITY

BRITTANY SHORTS and )
KATHERINE MAGEE CURRY, et al. )
)
Plaintiffs, )
vs. )
)
MIDWEST WOMENS HEALTHCARE ) Case No.:
SPECIALISTS, LLC, ) Division:
Serve Registered Agent: )
STK Registered Agent )
900 West 48
th
Place, Suite 900 )
Kansas City, MO 64112 )
)
Defendant. )

PETITION FOR DAMAGES
CLASS ACTION

COME NOW Plaintiffs, Brittany Shorts and Katherine Curry, by and through Plaintiffs
attorneys, on behalf of themselves and all other similarly situated Missouri residents, and for this
class action against Defendant Midwest Womens Healthcare Specialists, LLC, state and allege as
follows:
1. Plaintiff Brittany Shorts is an individual residing in Jackson County, Missouri.
2. Plaintiff Katherine Magee Curry is an individual residing in Jackson County,
Missouri.
3. Defendant Midwest Womens Healthcare Specialists, LLC (hereinafter MWHS),
is a limited liability company operating in and organized under the laws of the State of Missouri
with its principal place of business at 2316 East Meyer Blvd., Kansas City, Jackson County,
Missouri. MWHS can be served through its registered agent, STK Registered Agent, 900 West
48
th
Place, Suite 900, Kansas City, Missouri.
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1416-CV13362
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4. Jurisdiction is proper because both Plaintiffs and Defendant are residents of the
State of Missouri and Defendant is a business operating, and licensed under, the laws of the state
of Missouri.
5. Venue is proper in Jackson County, Missouri, pursuant to RSMo 508.010.4,
because Plaintiffs were first injured in Jackson County, Missouri.
FACTS COMMON TO ALL CLAIMS

6. Defendant MWHS is a health care provider pursuant to state and federal law,
providing health care and medical services to the general public, operating at 2316 East Meyer
Boulevard, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri.
7. Plaintiffs and the proposed class members are patients of MWHS receiving
treatment from Defendant from 2009 to the present.
8. While in Defendants care, Plaintiffs and the proposed class members revealed
extremely personal information to Defendant which Defendant recorded and maintained within its
business records.
9. Defendant is required to maintain the privacy of Plaintiffs and the proposed class
members medical records.
10. Pursuant to State and Federal law, Defendant cannot dispose of patient medical
records by placing them in a dumpster.
11. On or around May 19, 2014, Defendant placed or facilitated the placement of
Plaintiffs and the proposed class members medical records in a dumpster located on or near
Research Medical Center, located at 2316 East Meyer Boulevard, Kansas City, Jackson County,
Missouri. Upon information and belief, there were hundreds, or more, patients medical records
placed in the dumpster.
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12. At or around the same date and time the medical records were placed in the
dumpster, high winds blowing in Kansas City blew many of the medical records out of the
dumpster and began scattering them across the Greater Kansas City area.
13. On May 19, 2014, a man passing by the Research Medical Center campus noticed
hundreds of papers being blown out of the dumpster and across the city. The man stopped and
picked up a small amount of the papers to ascertain their nature and origin and discovered they
were medical records for patients of MWHS. The man could not gather all the papers he saw
flying around in the wind.
14. The man who picked up the papers observed workers at the Research Medical
Center campus continuing to place more medical records in the dumpster. He brought the medical
records he gathered to the workers and told them that the records were flying out of the dumpster
and around the city. The workers refused to take the medical records from the man and indicated
that it was not their problem. The man observed additional records blowing out of the dumpster
and flying out around the city.
15. The man then contacted Channel 41 news, KSHB, and reported what happened.
Channel 41 reporter, Garrett Haake, interviewed the man and took custody of approximately
seventy sets of the medical records collected by the man.
16. Garrett Haake went to the area near Research Medical Center to report on the story
and observed additional medical records lying in the streets, grass, bushes, and trees several blocks
away from the dumpster where the records were initially placed.
17. Garrett Haake collected additional medical records from the streets, grass, bushes,
and trees over half a mile away from the Research Medical Center campus.
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18. Channel 41 ran the story on the 10:00 p.m. news on May 19, 2014. The other
Kansas City news channels also picked up the story.
19. On May 20, 2014, the Kansas City news channels including, without limitation,
Channel 41-KSHB, Channel 4-WDAF, Channel 9-KMBZ, and Channel 5-KCTV, sent news crews
to the area near Research Medical Center to investigate the story. This was more than 20 hours
after the records were first reported being dumped. Each news crew found and collected additional
medical records in the streets, grass, bushes, and trees within one mile of the Research Medical
Center campus.
20. The medical records from MWHS which were blowing across the Greater Kansas
City area included, without limitation, medical procedures and dates of treatment, patient names,
addresses, telephone numbers, social security number, dates of birth, insurance information,
treatment instructions, and the name of the patients doctor.
21. Defendant did not have authorization from Plaintiffs or, on information and belief,
the proposed class members to place their private medical records in a dumpster.
22. Plaintiffs and the proposed class members private medical records from MWHS
remain out in the public.
23. At no time after Defendant MWHS released Plaintiffs private medical records into
the public forum did it attempt to retrieve the records and remediate the release.
24. As a direct result of Defendants actions, Plaintiffs and the proposed class suffered
permanent and irreparable loss of their privacy.
CLASS ACTION ALLEGATIONS
25. This action is brought as a Plaintiffs class pursuant to Missouri Rule of Civil
Procedure 52.08. Plaintiffs bring this action on their own behalf and all others similarly situated,
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as representative of the following class:
All Missouri residents who received any type of healthcare treatment from Midwest
Womens Healthcare Specialists, LLC and whose medical records were deposited in a
dumpster on or around May 19, 2014 or at any time from June 1, 2010 to present.

26. The particular members of the class are capable of being described without difficult
managerial or administrative problems. The members of the Class are readily identifiable from
the information and records in the possession or control of the Defendant.
27. The Class consists of hundreds and perhaps thousands of individual members and
is, therefore, so numerous that individual joinder of all members is impractical.
28. There are questions of law and fact common to the Class, which questions
predominate over any questions affecting only individual members of the Class and, in fact, the
wrongs suffered and remedies sought by Plaintiffs and the other members of the Class are premised
upon a violation of state law uniformly affecting all the Class members. The only material
difference between the Class members claims is the exact monetary amount to which each
member of the Class is entitled. The principal common issues include, but are certainly not limited
to the following:
(a) Whether Defendant provided medical treatment such that it had possession of
medical records;
(b) Whether Defendant dumped, or caused to have dumped, medical records into a
dumpster;
(c) Whether Defendant had a legal and fiduciary obligation to prevent any patients
medical records to be placed in a dumpster without permission from the patient;
(d) Whether Defendant breached its fiduciary obligations to protect and safeguard
patients medical records;
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29. Plaintiffs claims are typical of those of the Class and are based on the same legal
and factual theories as outlined above.
30. Plaintiffs will fairly and adequately represent and protect the interests of the
members of the Class. Plaintiffs have no claims antagonistic to those of the Class. Plaintiffs have
retained competent and experienced counsel who have prosecuted dozens of complex class actions
within Missouri and across the nation. Undersigned counsel is committed to the vigorous
prosecution of this action.
31. Certification of a plaintiff class is appropriate in that Plaintiffs and the Class
members seek monetary damages, common questions predominate over any individual questions,
and a plaintiff class action is superior for the fair and efficient adjudication of this controversy. A
plaintiff class action will cause an orderly and expeditious administration of the Class members
claims. Economies of time, effort and expense will be fostered, and uniformity of decisions will
be ensured by certification of the class. Moreover, the individual class members are unlikely to
be aware of their rights and are not in a position (either through experience or financially) to
commence individual litigation against Defendant and its vast resources.
32. Alternatively, certification of a plaintiff class is appropriate in that inconsistent or
varying adjudications with respect to individual members of the Class would establish
incompatible standards of conduct for the Defendant. In addition, as a practical matter,
adjudications with respect to individual members of the Class would be dispositive of the interests
of the other members not parties to the adjudications, or would at the very least substantially impair
or impede their ability to protect their interests.
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33. The Defendant has acted or refused to act on grounds generally applicable to the
Class, thereby making appropriate final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief with
respect to the Class as a whole.
COUNT I - BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY
34. Plaintiffs incorporate by reference the allegations of paragraphs 1 through 33 above
as though set forth fully herein.
35. At all times relevant hereto, Defendant MWHS owed, and owes, a fiduciary duty
to Plaintiffs and the proposed class pursuant to Missouri common law, to keep Plaintiffs medical
information confidential.
36. The fiduciary duty of privacy imposed by Missouri law is explicated under the
procedures set forth in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule,
including, without limitation the procedures and definitions of 45 C.F.R. 160.103 and 45 C.F.R.
164.530 which requires a covered entity, health care provider, to apply appropriate
administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the privacy of patient medical records.
37. Pursuant to Missouri common law, MWHS is prohibited from disposing patient
medical records in a dumpster accessible to the public.
38. Defendant breached its fiduciary duty to Plaintiff by discarding Plaintiffs medical
records in a dumpster.
39. As a direct result of Defendants breach of fiduciary duty and the disclosure of
Plaintiffs confidential medical information, Plaintiffs and the proposed class members suffered
damages.
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40. Defendants conduct was outrageous because Defendants acted with an evil motive
and/or with reckless indifference to the rights of Plaintiffs, and each of them, thereby entitling
Plaintiffs to recover punitive damages from Defendant.
WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and all members of the Class,
respectfully pray for judgment against the Defendant as follows:
a) For an Order certifying that this action may be maintained as a class action and
appointing Plaintiffs and their counsel to represent the Class;
b) For a declaration that Defendants actions violated Plaintiffs and the Class
members rights under Missouri law as pleaded in Count I;
c) For all actual damages, statutory damages, penalties, and remedies available for the
Defendants violations of Plaintiffs and the Class members rights under Missouri law;
d) For pre-judgment interest as provided by law;
e) For post-judgment interest as provided by law;
f) For an award to Plaintiffs and the Class of their reasonable attorneys fees;
g) For an award to Plaintiffs and the Class of their costs and expenses of this action;
h) For an award of punitive damages in an amount sufficient to deter Defendant and
others from the same or similar conduct
i) For such other and further relief as the Court may deem necessary and proper under
Missouri law.
DEMAND FOR A JURY TRIAL
Plaintiffs hereby demands a jury trial on all issues in this case.


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Respectfully submitted,

Maureen M. Brady MO#57800
Lucy McShane MO#57957
1656 Washington, Ste. 140
Kansas City, MO 64108
Phone: (816) 888-8010
Fax: (816) 332-6295
E-mail: mbrady@mcshanebradylaw.com
lmcshane@mcshanebradylaw.com

Ralph K. Phalen, Mo. Bar #36687
1000 Broadway, Suite 400
Kansas City, MO 64105
Phone (816) 589-0753
Fax (816) 471-1701

and

BURGESS AND GREEN, P.C.
Mitchell L. Burgess #47524 MO
Blake P. Green #60833 MO
1000 Broadway, Suite 400
Kansas City, MO 64105
Phone (816) 471-1700
Fax (816) 471-1701


ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFFS
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