A California federal judge dismissed a fraud claim in a medical malpractice suit accusing a QME orthopedic surgeon of botching a man’s knee replacement surgery and fraudulently concealing an infection, saying there is no evidence that the doctor knew about the infection.

Before commencement of a jury trial, Law360 reports that U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley granted partial summary judgment in favor of QME Dr. David Jupina and his practice group, Tri Valley Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Group Inc., in a suit brought by William Denis McCann accusing the health care providers of botching his total knee replacement surgery which purportedly resulted in a bacterial infection that ultimately required corrective surgery and replacement of the artificial joint.

The judge said McCann’s fraudulent concealment claim fails since the patient didn’t prove that Jupina knew that McCann had a deep tissue infection, only that he had a superficial infection that was treated with antibiotics.

“Based on the record before the court, no reasonable trier of fact could find that Dr. Jupina knew plaintiff had a deep tissue infection,” Judge Corley wrote in a six-page order. “No test result told Dr. Jupina that plaintiff had a deep tissue infection; – No expert has opined that based on what Dr. Jupina observed he had to know that plaintiff had an infection despite not having any test results.”

A fraudulent concealment claim requires that the doctor has a duty to disclose certain facts, and the judge said the claim fails without evidence the doctor had knowledge of those facts.

“A duty cannot arise when the fact is not actually known to the defendant,” she said.

Judge Corley said the fact that Jupina referred McCann to another doctor for a second opinion and informed the patient he didn’t know what was wrong with his knee undermines McCann’s argument that the doctor knew he had a deep tissue infection and wanted to hide that fact from the patient.

The suit was filed in June 2016 and seeks more than $500,000 in damages. A jury trial is set for November on the remaining claims, according to court records. The case is William Denis McCann v. David Jupina et al., case number 3:16-cv-03244, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Dr. Jupina joined the Tri-Valley Orthopedic group in 1998. He is currently team physician for local Foothill High School athletes, and Orthopedic Surgery Consultant to the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, CA. He performs surgery at ValleyCare Hospital, San Ramon Regional Medical Center, Hacienda Surgery Center and Pleasanton Surgery Center.

The DWC lists him as a QME with offices in ten locations in Northern California