Barry S. Landsberg
Barry Landsberg is a health industry litigation partner who has made landmark law for hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers. He has handled a wide range of precedent-setting cases for hospitals and health systems on industry-defining issues, including hospital/physician medical staff and complex consumer class cases. He has won many first-impression decisions for hospitals before the California Supreme Court and the California Court of Appeal.
Barry handles commercial contracts, business torts and constitutional disputes arising under the Unfair Competition Law, the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, federal and state anti-kickback statutes, the False Claims Act, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the California and United States constitutions. Barry also defends faith-based hospital and health care systems in cases challenging their First Amendment religious freedom rights.
Barry is recognized annually in national health industry and legal publications as a preeminent health industry litigator. For the past two years, Barry has been recognized by the Daily Journal as one of California’s top 100 attorneys and as one of the state’s top 20 health care attorneys. Recently, he was named the Health Care MVP by Law360 and was listed in the 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
Barry is a frequent author and lecturer on California hospital law, the Unfair Competition Law and other health law litigation developments. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the California Society for Healthcare Attorneys.
Barry currently sits on the Manatt Board of Directors, as he did from 1998 through 2009. He co-chaired Manatt’s national litigation practice from 2000 through 2006, and led Manatt’s appellate practice from 2007 through 2009.
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Barry S. Landsberg
Barry Landsberg is a health industry litigation partner who has made landmark law for hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers. He has handled a wide range of precedent-setting cases for hospitals and health systems on industry-defining issues, including hospital/physician medical staff and complex consumer class cases. He has won many first-impression decisions for hospitals before the California Supreme Court and the California Court of Appeal.
Barry handles commercial contracts, business torts and constitutional disputes arising under the Unfair Competition Law, the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, federal and state anti-kickback statutes, the False Claims Act, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the California and United States constitutions. Barry also defends faith-based hospital and health care systems in cases challenging their First Amendment religious freedom rights.
Barry is recognized annually in national health industry and legal publications as a preeminent health industry litigator. For the past two years, Barry has been recognized by the Daily Journal as one of California’s top 100 attorneys and as one of the state’s top 20 health care attorneys. Recently, he was named the Health Care MVP by Law360 and was listed in the 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
Barry is a frequent author and lecturer on California hospital law, the Unfair Competition Law and other health law litigation developments. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the California Society for Healthcare Attorneys.
Barry currently sits on the Manatt Board of Directors, as he did from 1998 through 2009. He co-chaired Manatt’s national litigation practice from 2000 through 2006, and led Manatt’s appellate practice from 2007 through 2009.
Experience
- Capito v San Jose Health Care System, _ Cal. 5th _, 2024 WL 5196670 (represented amici curiae CommonSpirit Health, Providence St. Joseph Health, and Sharp HealthCare in unanimous Supreme Court decision holding that California hospitals that comply with federal and state price disclosure regulations have no duty to further disclose emergency room management and evaluation services fees to patients in the emergency room, and affirming dismissal of claims under the Unfair Competition Law and Consumer Legal Remedies Act).
- Dignity Health v Mounts, _ Cal. App. 5 _ (2024) (affirming dismissal of physician’s cross-complaint against client hospital alleging retaliatory peer review under the anti-SLAPP statute).
- Southern Cal. Clergy Cases, Los Angeles Superior Court No. JCCP5101 (dismissing client Dignity Health hospital with prejudice from suit alleging 1970s-1980s sexual abuse of plaintiff by a former priest at his local church, where priest had developed relationship of trust with plaintiff’s family and allegedly abused plaintiff at his home, and where his later position as hospital chaplain was unrelated to abuse).
- Kime v Dignity Health, 101 Cal. App. 5th 708 (2024) (affirming dismissal of emergency care physician’s claims for denial of fair procedure, following the discontinuation of his application for membership and privileges, based on a prior summary suspension of his privileges by another hospital and the client hospital’s contract with the physician’s emergency group foreclosing physicians with prior adverse disciplinary history from applying for membership and privileges).
- Medical Staff of St. Mary Medical Center v. St. Mary Medical Center (Cal. Ct. App. 2022) (affirming denial of petition for writ of mandate by medical staff against client hospital for alleged violations of medical staff self-governance statute and bylaws arising from hospital’s exclusive contracting decisions and nonapproval of amendments to medical staff bylaws).
- East Bay Cardiovascular and Thoracic Associates, Inc. v Stanford Health Care-Valley Care, No. RG21101593 (Alameda County Sup. Ct.) (Denial of writ of mandate in action challenging client hospital’s quasi-legislative decision to change exclusive provider of cardiothoracic surgical services).
- Wisner v Dignity Health, 85 Cal. App. 5 35 (2022) (first-impression decision affirming the dismissal under the anti-SLAPP statute of a physician’s damages complaint against the client hospital alleging that the hospital had maliciously filed a false report to the federal government disclosing that the physician resigned his medical staff membership and privileges while under investigation; holding the report was both a mandated and a protected communication and the hospital was immune from liability under the federal peer review statute).
- Dignity Health v Mounts, 2022 WL 538110 (Cal. App. 2022) (reversing denial of client hospital’s anti-SLAPP motion in action alleging retaliatory peer review of physician).
- Natarajan v. Dignity Health, 11 Cal. 5th 1095 (2021) (Unanimous Supreme Court decision affirming denial of physician’s writ of mandate challenging client hospital’s termination of the physician’s medical staff membership and privileges; first impression ruling rejecting claim that a peer review hearing officer is biased based on his past and pending hearing officer work at other hospitals operated by the same client).
- Bichai v. Dignity Health, 61 Cal. App. 5th 869 (2021) (secured complete dismissal of action by physician against a hospital following the medical staff’s recommended denial of the physician’s application for privileges because the hospital itself, a separate legal entity from the medical staff, had not taken adverse action on the physician’s application.)
- Medical Staff of Saint Mary Medical Center v Dignity Health, Case No. 20STCP01915 (Los Angeles Superior Court) (denying writ of mandate by medical staff against client hospital for alleged violations of medical staff self-governance statute and bylaws arising from hospital’s exclusive contracting decisions and refusal to approve amendments to medical staff bylaws).
- Jarman v. HCR ManorCare, 10 Cal.5 375 (2020) (first impression California Supreme Court decision in favor of long-term care provider client, holding that recovery in resident rights lawsuits is limited to a single recovery of up to $500 rather than recovery on a per-violation basis).
- Cary Shakespeare, M.D. et al v. Adventist Health System/West, (Placer Cty Sup. Ct.) (2018) (complete defense verdict for hospital system following trial of physician whistle-blower claims).
- Rollins v. Dignity Health, 137 S. Ct. 1652 (2017) unanimous Supreme Court decision upholding church plan exemption from ERISA for faith-based hospitals’ pension plan).
- Colonial Medical Group v. Dignity Health, 2017 WL 2178831 (1 Dist. 2017) (affirming dismissal of writ of mandate by medical group challenging hospital’s exclusive services contract to treat prison inmates of Central California prisons as an illegal kickback arrangement).
- Ryan Kime, M.D. v. Adventist Health Clearlake Hospital et al, 254 F.Supp.3d 1071 (N.D. Cal. 2017) (obtained dismissal with prejudice of EMTALA claims against hospital).
- Dhillon v. John Muir Health, 2 Cal. 5th 1109 (2017) (won for amicus hospital system Supreme Court decision holding that hospitals may appeal writs of mandamus ordering hospitals to provide peer review hearings to physicians).
- Shaw v. Superior Court, 2 Cal. 5th 983 (2017) (Argued and won for amicus hospital system Supreme Court decision holding that physician and hospital employee whistleblower statute does not authorize jury trials).
- Colonial Medical Group, Inc. v. Dignity Health et al (San Fran Sup. Ct. 2015) (tried and won defense of action claiming that exclusive coverage contract for provision of emergency hospital services to prisoners violated antitrust and anti-kickback laws and denied the plaintiff medical group fair procedure).
- El-Attar v. Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, 56 Cal. 4 976 (2013) (Argued and won for two amici hospital system clients Supreme Court decision upholding the termination of the physician's medical staff membership and privileges. The Court adopted our amici clients' argument that minor violations of medical staff bylaws regarding selection of the peer review hearing panel and hearing officer were insufficient to overturn the hospital's decision to terminate the physician based on substantial evidence of the physician's substandard patient care).
- Walsh v. Kindred Healthcare et al, 798 F.Supp.2d 1073 (N.D. Cal. 2011) (dismissal of Unfair Competition Law claim against nursing homes for alleged understaffing of facilities).
- Bruce Ellison, M.D. v. Sequoia Health Services, 183 Cal. App. 4th 1486 (1st Dist. 2010) (Upholding hospital client’s termination of a physician for dishonesty in reporting his professional training and qualifications).
- Colonial Medical Group v. Catholic Healthcare West, et al. (N.D. Cal. May 2010) affirmed (9th Cir. 2011) (dismissal of medical group's antitrust claims challenging hospital client's exclusive services contract for services to prison inmates of Central California prisons).
- Pourzia v. St. Mary Medical Center, Catholic Healthcare West, et al., 2009 WL 1842664 (2d. Dist. 2009) (unpublished) (affirmed judgment for client hospital, dismissing physician’s petition for writ of mandate challenging summary suspension and termination of medical staff membership and privileges).
- Blau v. Northridge Hospital Medical Center, et al. (1st Dist. 2007) (upholding client hospital’s exclusion of disruptive physician).
- Alvarado v. Selma Convalescent Hospital, 153 Cal. App. 4th 1292 (2d Dist. 2007) (First-impression decision affirming dismissal, on demurrer, of Unfair Competition Law action against client nursing homes for alleged violations of statutory nurse hours staffing requirements. The court held that the equitable abstention doctrine foreclosed the plaintiff’s attempt to usurp the assigned state agency’s regulatory authority over nurse staffing).
- Kibler v. Northern Inyo County Local Hospital District, 39 Cal. 4th 192 (2006) (first-impression Supreme Court ruling, applying California’s anti-SLAPP statute to private hospital peer review as “official proceedings authorized by law”).
- Figueroa v. Northridge Hospital Medical Center, et al., 138 Cal. App. 4th 10 (2d Dist. 2005) (first-impression decision, dismissing appeal in proposed class action against client hospital system, alleging violations of the Labor Code and Unfair Competition Law).
- CMC Medical Plaza Partners Ltd v. Catholic Healthcare West, et al., No. B177173, 2006 WL 45874 (2d Dist. 2006) (Affirming the dismissal, on demurrer, of action claiming breaches of contract and fiduciary duty against client hospital, for allowing construction of an affordable low-income housing project located near the hospital and the offices of the plaintiff, a physician limited partnership. The trial court also awarded the client’s prevailing party attorneys’ fees).
- Pitluck v. Beverly Enterprises, et al., No. B179680 (2d Dist. 2005) (affirming dismissal of Unfair Competition Law action against client nursing home providers, alleging unlawful and unfair practices relating to the purchase of indemnity insurance for claims made under California’s Elder Abuse Act).
- Solomon v. U.S. Trust Company, B163813 (2d Dist. 2004) (obtained reversal of summary judgment and reinstatement of investor’s claims for breach of fiduciary duty and negligence against securities broker/dealer).
- Olszewski v. Scripps Health, 30 Cal. 4th 798 (2003) (affirming dismissal of Business & Professions Code Section 17200 claims against hospitals for enforcing liens in personal injury actions by Medi-Cal-insured former hospital patients).
- Blau v. Catholic Healthcare West, et al., No. B157516, 2003 WL 550307 (2d Dist. 2003)(affirming dismissal of damages action by terminated physician against client hospital, based upon the physician’s failure to exhaust administrative remedies).
- Swanson v. St. John’s Regional Medical Center, 97 Cal. App. 4th 245 (2d Dist. 2002) (upholding hospitals’ third-party lien rights, and affirming dismissal of Unfair Competition Law claim against California’s largest acute-care hospital system).
- Grauberger v. Saint Francis Hospital, et al., 169 F. Supp. 2d 1172 (N.D. Cal. 2002) (obtained dismissal of RICO claims against hospital system for alleged improper lien and pricing practices).
- Congress of California Seniors v. Catholic Healthcare West, 87 Cal. App. 4th 491 (2d Dist. 2001) (holding that Medicare and Medicaid laws preempt Unfair Competition Law action by union claiming that hospital submitted false Medicare and Medi-Cal cost reports).
- Crusader Insurance Co. v. Scottsdale Insurance Co., 54 Cal. App. 4th 121 (2d Dist. 1997) (affirming dismissal of action against client insurer on grounds that plaintiff stated no private right of action, including under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200, to sue for violations of California’s Insurance Code).
- Oskooi v. Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, 42 Cal. App. 4th 233 (4th Dist. 1996) (upholding hospital’s decision to terminate physician based upon material omissions in medical staff application).
- Ledergerber v. Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, GO13843 (4th Dist. 1995) (affirming hospital’s decision terminating physician’s medical staff privileges).
- City of Hope National Medical Center v. Superior Court (Western Life Ins. Co.), 8 Cal. App. 4th 633 (2d Dist. 1992) (first-impression decision establishing that an insurer was prohibited by law from seeking restitution of insurance benefits allegedly paid by mistake to hospital for cancer treatment the insurer contended was excluded from coverage as experimental treatment).
- Freedman v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., 196 Cal. App. 3d 696 (1st Dist. 1987) (successful defense and dismissal of plaintiff’s action based upon plaintiff’s delay in prosecution, notwithstanding the plaintiff’s attorney’s disbarment for grand theft of another client).
- United States of America v. National Medical Enterprises, Inc., 107 F.R.D. 628 (E.D. Cal. 1985), (affirmed in part, vacated and remanded in part), 792 F.2d 906 (9th Cir. 1986) (successful defense of Clayton Act §7 action brought by the Department of Justice’s Antitrust division seeking the divestiture of hospital acquired by defendant. This case was the first and only reported case in which an action brought by the federal government was dismissed with prejudice based upon prosecutorial misconduct by government counsel).
- Humana of Aurora, Inc. v. Heckler, 753 F.2d 1579 (10th Cir. 1985) (prevailed in action by hospital client challenging federal Medicare reimbursement regulation).
Accomplishments
Speaker, “Bonni, Natarajan, and Bichai from the Front Lines: Experts Discuss Three Impactful Peer Review Decisions,” 2021 Virtual Fall Seminar, California Society for Healthcare Attorneys, November 19, 2021.
Speaker, “Update on Hearing Officer Qualifications—Is Yaqub Still Alive?” California Society for Healthcare Attorneys 2019 Hearing Officer Update Program, November 7, 2019.
Speaker, “Health Litigation Update,” California Society for Healthcare Attorneys Annual Seminar, April 2008.
Speaker, “17200 Litigation Gone Amok: Good Laws Made Bad?” California Society for Healthcare Attorneys 2004 Fall Seminar, November 2004.
Panelist, “Third Party Recovery – or Liability?” Teleconference sponsored by The American Bar Association Health Law Section and The Center for Continuing Legal Education, April 2003.
Speaker, “Hospital Liens: Current Legal Challenges,” to the VHA, a 2200-member nationwide network of community-owned healthcare systems and their physicians, July 2002 and April 2003.
Speaker, “Medical Staff Law,” as part of graduate course in Healthcare Law given at the University of Southern California School of Public Administration, with Terri D. Keville and Sherwin L. Memel, June 1993, January 1994, February 2002, and January 2003.
Panelist, “Does Business & Professions Code Section 17200 help or hurt California Consumers?” A roundtable discussion published in Verdicts & Settlements, a supplement to the Los Angeles Daily Journal, June 27, 2001.
Lecturer, “Compliance Issues in Long-Term Care,” Region 9 Health Care Compliance Association Conference, Phoenix, AZ, April 1999.
Lecturer, “False Claims Act Litigation Against Skilled Nursing Facilities,” Second Annual National Congress on Healthcare Compliance, Washington, DC, February 1999.
Speaker, “Physician Integrity and Other Non-Medical Issues in Credentialing,” National Health Lawyers Association Conference on Physicians and Hospitals, April 1996 and May 1997.
Speaker, “Recent Developments in Resident’s Rights,” National Health Lawyers Association Conference on Long-Term Care, January 31, 1996.
Speaker, “Transfer Trauma as a Legal Issue in Long-Term Care,” National Health Lawyers Association Long-Term Care and the Law Conference, with Terri D. Keville, January 21, 1994.
Health Care Advocate of the Year Finalist, Los Angeles Times, 2024
Lawyer of the Year: Litigation – Health Care, The Best Lawyers in America, 2025
500 Leading Litigators in America, Lawdragon, 2022 and 2024
Law360 Health Care MVP, 2021
Top 100 Lawyers in California, Daily Journal, 2021–2022
The Best Lawyers in America, 2001–2025
Southern California Super Lawyers, 2005–2023
Top Healthcare Lawyers, Daily Journal, 2019–2023
Recipient, 2018 California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award, presented by the Daily Journal for extraordinary achievement in the area of Health Care
“Top-Ranked Healthcare Attorney,” Chambers USA, 2006–2024
Barry was chosen as one of the “2003 Outstanding Healthcare Litigators” by Nightingale’s Healthcare News.
Admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Central District of California and the Northern District of California; Admitted to practice in California and the District of Columbia.
Former Member, Board of Directors, California Society for Healthcare Attorneys
Member, American Law Institute
Member, American Health Lawyers Association
Member, California Society for Healthcare Attorneys
Member, Education Committee, California Society for Healthcare Attorneys
Co-Author, “California’s New Arbitration Amendment is a Legal Tangle Waiting to be Unwound,” Daily Journal, February 6, 2025.
Co-Author, “Don't Overlook Federal Protections When Defending Hospitals And Peer Reviewers In Physicians' Retaliation Lawsuits,” Daily Journal, July 5, 2023.
Featured, “MVP: Manatt’s Barry S. Landsberg,” Law360, September 24, 2021.
Co-Author, “Anti-SLAPP Protections for Hospital Peer Reviews: Questions Linger,” Daily Journal, August 13, 2021.
Co-Author, “When does a hearing officer in a physician peer review hearing have a disqualifying financial bias?” Daily Journal, December 4, 2019.
Co-Author, "Who is in Charge of Our Hospitals?," Los Angeles Daily Journal, August 27, 2013.
Co-Author, “5th Circ. Reversal Of Poliner Restores Order,” Health Law360, August 8, 2008.
“Limiting Legal Scope,” Los Angeles Daily Journal, February 7, 2008.
Co-Author, “Federal Courts Reject Erin Brockovich’s Latest Pitch,” ABA Health eSource, April 2007.
Co-Author, “The UCL and You: Recent Developments in California’s Unfair Competition Law and Their Effect on Healthcare Providers and Payors,” California Health Law News 15, Summer 2007.
Co-Author, “Hospitals Litigate Their Right to Place and Collect Third-Party Liens in Personal Injury Cases – With Mixed Results,” California Health Law News 11, Fall 2002/Winter 2003.
Co-Author, “Nursing Homes Face Quality-of-Care Scrutiny Under the False Claims Act,” Healthcare Financial Management, January 2001.
Co-Author, “The California Supreme Court’s Decision in Potvin Provides Little Guidance on the Scope of the Fair Procedure Doctrine for Managed Care Physicians,” California Health Law News 5, Fall 2000/Winter 2001.
Co-Author, “Mixed Manna,” Los Angeles Daily Journal, September 15, 2000.
Co-Author, “Courts Hostile to Insurers Reneging on Hospital Payments,” HealthSpan, The Report of Health Business and Law, Vol. 10, January 1993.
California
Washington, D.C.
Emory University, J.D., 1980
Editor, Emory Law Journal
University of Maryland, B.A., summa cum laude, 1977
Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Alpha Theta
Related Practices
Services
Health Care Litigation
Litigation
Class Actions
False Claims Act
Antitrust and Competition
Appellate
Industries
Manatt Health
