The state Supreme Court has decided not to hear arguments in a hospital's case against an attorney over filing of what it called “patently frivolous” wrongful-death lawsuits stemming from its employment of serial killer Charles Cullen as a nurse at the facility.

In August, the state Superior Court ruled in St. Luke's Hospital v. Vivian that St. Luke's Hospital of Bethlehem should produce information that it claimed was protected by attorney-client privilege. In upholding a Lehigh County judge's decision to deny the hospital a protective order, the three-judge Superior Court panel also affirmed sanctions placed on the hospital for “outrageous” threats of violence made by the hospital's CEO against the defendant, attorney John R. Vivian.

Francis S. Blatcher III of Media-based Mallon Blatcher represented Vivian and said, “We're pleased with the result and we're ready to proceed with the defense of the matter for John Vivian.”