The landlords who have been trying for two years to force the abortion clinic in Bristol out of their building are appealing the dismissal of their lawsuit against the clinic owner.
In turn, the attorney for the owner of the abortion clinic, Bristol Women’s Health, is seeking to have the appeal dismissed.
The notice of appeal was filed with the Court of Appeals of Virginia on Oct. 25 by the attorneys for brothers Chase King and Chadwick King. It does not say why they are appealing the September decision made by Bristol Circuit Judge Sage Johnson to dismiss the suit.
The original lawsuit, filed in December 2022, accused the clinic of fraud, with the landlords saying they hadn’t been told that abortions would be performed there, a claim that has been denied by clinic owner Diane Derzis. The Kings said they are morally opposed to abortion and claimed that they have suffered personal and professional losses as a result of abortions being performed in their building.
The judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying that the brothers had waited too long to file it and had treated the lease as a binding agreement, cashing the clinic’s rental checks and initiating discussions about upkeep and improvements to the property.
The lease was signed in June 2022, but the lawsuit wasn’t filed until six months later.
The motion to dismiss the appeal of that decision, filed Dec. 6 by Derzis’ attorney, Alexis Tahinci, states that the appeal is premature because part of the case is still pending. Johnson hasn’t ruled on a counterclaim filed by Tahinci in response to an April 30 letter from the building’s owners to the clinic, providing 30 days’ notice that the lease would be terminated.
The counterclaim sought an injunction to keep the clinic from being evicted. A temporary injunction was granted.
Terry Kilgore, one of the attorneys representing the Kings, did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story. He is a state delegate from Scott County.
Derzis, who lives in Alabama, said Thursday that the clinic continues to operate as normal and to provide abortions to women from the Bristol area as well as to a rising number from surrounding states that have enacted almost total bans on abortions since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022. That decision ended the federal right to abortion.
Derzis owned the abortion clinic in Jackson, Mississippi, that was at the center of that U.S. Supreme Court case.
Her clinic in Bristol is the only known abortion clinic in the surrounding area. Its location in the Twin City — half in Virginia, where abortions remain legal with a few restrictions, and half in Tennessee, where most abortions have been outlawed — has attracted national attention and media coverage. It also regularly draws protesters.
Derzis said she is no longer looking for an alternative location, and she again vowed to remain open in Bristol.
The commercial lease for the building on Osborne Street was for one year with renewal options for a second year, and then two three-year options.
