Fourth District Court Judge Robert Lunnen overturned a class action lawsuit against Dr. David Broadbent, a Provo obstetrics and gynecology specialist, accused of sexual abuse and sexual battery of female patients.

According to Adam Sorenson of Gross & Rooney, attorney for the plaintiffs, an appeal will be filed with the Utah Supreme Court within the next week or so.

If the court upholds Lunnen’s decision, Sorenson said he will then seek a malpractice option. If the court sides with the plaintiffs, then the abuse case will be refiled.

“The process takes about a year from filing notice of appeal to getting a decision,” Sorenson said.

Since January, nearly 100 women have made accusations against Broadbent of sexual battery, sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Intermountain Healthcare (Utah Valley Hospital) and MountainStar Healthcare (Timpanogos Regional Hospital) were also involved in the lawsuit.

All three defendants gave slightly varying arguments that the case should be dismissed, because they consider the charges to be medical malpractice claims and pre-litigation procedures were not done correctly.

On Tuesday, Judge Lunnen concurred with the argument, saying charges against Broadbent should be for malpractice.

David Jordan, representing Intermountain Healthcare, said the main issue was whether the procedures performed by Broadbent constituted health care. He said they did and quoted the Utah Healthcare Malpractice Act’s definition of health care as “any act or treatment performed or furnished, or which should have been performed or furnished, by any health care provider for, to, or on behalf of a patient during the patient’s medical care, treatment, or confinement.”

Karra Porter, representing Broadbent, discussed the delicate nature of a gynecologist, saying that patients recognize there would be contact of sensitive parts of the body as part of the treatment.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that this wasn’t a matter of health care, but sexual abuse and throughout the summer continued to question why the accusations of sexual abuse were being labeled as health care. It was also argued the actions of Broadbent were not on behalf of his patients.

Some of Broadbent’s actions were so heinous, according to Sorenson, that they had to tone down the sum of the case.

While charges were first filed Feb. 15, one of the victims first told her story on a podcast in December 2021. According to previous reporting, awareness of the podcast and lawsuit have influenced numerous other women to come forward to share their alleged interactions with Broadbent.

All of the women have claimed their experiences happened at Broadbent’s office in Provo or at the two involved hospitals. Broadbent no longer has privileges as a physician in either hospital.

Sorenson, on behalf of the claimants, had filed for a jury trial, noting in court documents the difference between malpractice and sex abuse.

In his filing, Sorenson added, “For forty years, Broadbent sexually abused women and concealed that abuse under the guise of medical care. Those acts do not fall under the definition of ‘health care.”

If the plaintiffs continue with a claim of malpractice, only those who have been seen by Broadbent in the past four years may seek damages due to the statute of limitations.

In documents filed earlier this year, attorneys David and Scott Epperson of Epperson & Owens law offices, representing Broadbent, noted that, “As a mandatory condition-precedent to commencing litigation, Utah law requires those seeking to bring suit against a healthcare provider to file a notice of intent and participate in a non-binding pre-litigation hearing before the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing. Because Plaintiffs have not completed these steps, they are precluded from filling suit.”

The documents state, “the claims asserted in Plaintiffs against Defendant Dr. Broadbent constitute ‘a malpractice action against a healthcare provider’ as set forth in the Utah Healthcare Malpractice Act 78B-3-403(17) which states: ‘Malpractice action against a health care provider’ means any action against a health care provider, whether in contract, tort, breach of warranty, wrongful death, or otherwise, based upon alleged personal injuries relating to or arising out of health care rendered or which should have been rendered by the health care provider.”

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