Stegawski v. West Shore Anesthesia Group,
No. 78397 (Ohio Ct. App. Aug. 23, 2001)

A physician, on behalf of himself and other shareholders in an anesthesia group, sued a hospital in a dispute over an exclusive contract. The hospital had terminated the group's exclusive contract in favor of another anesthesia group. The dispute centered on the effective date of the contract which affected the date by which the hospital was required to terminate the contract. Although the contract stated the effective date clearly and in unambiguous terms on the first page of the contract, the hospital continued its affiliation with the anesthesia group for nearly three months past the end of the contract term. The Ohio Court of Appeals found that this circumstance raised questions of fact from which a jury could conclude that the contract had been improperly terminated. Therefore, the court reversed the trial court's granting of summary judgment to the hospital.