On Oct. 21, a federal judge dismissed all claims against former leaders of Charlottesville, Va.-based UVA Health in a lawsuit brought by four physicians. He also ruled that the University of Virginia is immune from suit.
The physicians, Jeffrey Young, MD; Kenan Yount, MD; Mark Roeser, MD; and John Kern, MD, filed the lawsuit Oct. 3, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. They alleged that from 2020 to 2025, former UVA Health CEO K. Craig Kent, MD, and his leadership team pushed fraudulent billing practices to inflate procedure costs and retained physicians who put patients at risk. The physicians said they were harassed, disciplined and demoted after they objected. The defendants have denied the allegations.
The court narrowed the case in June, dismissing several claims without prejudice and canceling the jury trial that had been scheduled for late 2026. The physicians then filed a revised complaint.
Here are six things to know about the latest ruling:
1. Senior Judge Norman Moon granted all five pending motions to dismiss the revised complaint, according to court documents reviewed by Becker’s. The following defendants were terminated as parties Oct. 23: Dr. Kent; Melina Kibbe, MD, former dean of the UVA School of Medicine; Wendy Horton, PharmD, former CEO of UVA Health University Medical Center; Allan Tsung, MD; Ourania Preventza, MD; Kim de la Cruz, MD; and the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia.
2. Only two retaliation claims remain, both against UVA Physicians Group: one under the federal False Claims Act and one under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act. Those claims will proceed to discovery.
3. The judge dismissed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act claims for the second time. The revised complaint had labeled the leaders’ alleged actions as extortion and witness tampering, but the judge wrote that it “does not alter the causal structure.” He wrote that the physicians “were not harmed because they were direct targets of the racketeering activities; they were harmed because they refused to go along with the scheme.” He also found the physicians had not sufficiently alleged either offense: “So while the Medical Leaders’ conduct may have been coercive, it was not extortionate.”
4. On sovereign immunity, the judge wrote that applying the test from a 2026 U.S. Supreme Court decision “strongly suggests” UVA is not an arm of the state. He pointed to UVA’s separate corporate form, its control over a $15.5 billion endowment, and the lack of any law requiring the commonwealth to pay judgments against it. Even so, he found he was bound by 4th Circuit precedent holding that Virginia’s public universities are immune. “To the extent the 4th Circuit wants to reorder the legal position of Virginia’s universities post-Galette, it must do so in the first instance,” he wrote.
5. The physicians have until Nov. 4 to file a third amended complaint limited to the retaliation claims against UVA Physicians Group. Any motion seeking an interlocutory appeal of the immunity ruling is due Oct. 28.
6. Baker Donelson, which represented Dr. Kent, Dr. Kibbe, Dr. Horton and Dr. Tsung, announced the ruling Oct. 23.
“We are pleased by the court’s decision and proud that our team led UVA Health — an organization with more than 18,000 employees and 1,200 physicians — over a period of many years, with integrity and proven success,” Dr. Kent, Dr. Kibbe and Dr. Horton said in a joint statement.
An attorney for Dr. de la Cruz and a UVA spokesperson declined to comment. Becker’s has reached out to attorneys for the plaintiffs, UVA Physicians Group and Dr. Preventza and will update this story if more information becomes available.
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