WEST PALM BEACH –– A federal judge rejected a doctor's request to disqualify opposing counsel in a case over alleged retaliation by the Florida Department of Health.
In the Aug. 23 order, Judge William Matthewman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida found Dr. Kenneth Woliner did not have enough evidence to show attorney Philip Wiseberg had a conflict of interest.
Woliner wanted to disqualify Wiseberg of the law firm Williams, Leininger and Cosby due his past work as an an assistant state attorney for Palm Beach County. Wiseberg prosecuted a case of medical fraud based on Woliner's complaints. Woliner claims that case caused the Department of Health (DOH) to initiate a campaign to strip the doctor of his medical license. According to court records, Woliner claims that he was “retaliated against, unfairly prosecuted, and stripped of his medical license without due process and in violation of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.”
Now, Wiseberg is an attorney with the law group representing the accused DOH employees.
However, Mathewman found the earlier criminal prosecutions and current lawsuit are not related.
The judge also denied Woliner's request to depose Wiseberg.