Attorneys for the board of trustees overseeing Natrona County's lease with the Wyoming Medical Center will tell a federal judge in Cheyenne today why he should dismiss a lawsuit brought by three doctors asserting the hospital violated their constitutional rights.

U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer also will hear from attorneys for the doctors at the 10:30 a.m. hearing why their lawsuit seeking $10 million in damages should go to trial on June 1.

Generally, a judge will listen to motions for summary judgment - arguments that a controversy has no dispute about facts or questions of law - and take them under advisement before making a ruling, said Pat Crank, attorney for neurosurgeons Drs. Robert Narotzky, Tom Kopitnik and Debra Steele.

The neurosurgeons claim the hospital violated its bylaws and procedures for peer review of physician behavior, defamed them with allegations of Medicare fraud and theft of hospital equipment, violated their due process of law guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, and forced the October 2005 resignations of their privileges to practice. They are seeking $10 million in damages, according to their lawsuit filed in January 2008.

They filed their lawsuit against the Board of Trustees of the Memorial Hospital of Natrona County; the Wyoming Medical Center's board of directors; and former WMC officials and managers.

But the defendants have responded the neurosurgeons don't have the grounds to sue.

The hospital and several of its officials at the time have claimed the neurosurgeons voluntarily resigned their privileges to practice in November 2005, their actions were the result of their misconduct, they were unwilling to follow the hospital's rules and regulations, and they were provided more than adequate due process to resolve their issues with the hospital.

The five-member board of trustees, which oversees the lease of Natrona County's hospital assets by the nonprofit Wyoming Medical Center, also has attacked the legal right of the neurosurgeons to sue it because it is protected by the doctrine of "qualified immunity," which protects government officials from being sued over their official acts so long as they did not violate someone's clearly established rights.

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at tom.morton@trib.com. Read his blog at tribtown.trib.com/TomMorton/blog.