Defendant accused of Unlawful Silencing Amid Patient Rights Advocacy

A father, acting on behalf of his autistic daughter, has filed a lawsuit against a law firm and its attorneys, alleging they attempted to silence him unlawfully as he sought to address what he perceived as inadequate care at a medical facility. Bill Madson submitted the complaint on November 26, 2025, in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina against Roberts & Stevens, P.A., and attorneys Phil Jackson and Jordan Barnette.

The case revolves around events beginning in August 2025 when Madson’s daughter was admitted to Mission Hospital and Sweeten Creek Mental Health Center in Asheville, NC. Madson claims that his daughter’s discharge process was rushed and inadequate, lacking a patient safety plan and conducted in a public setting with strangers present. Following this experience, Madson embarked on extensive research into his daughter’s rights under federal law. On October 18, he sent a litigation hold notice to Dr. Warren Deponti at Sweeten Creek to preserve evidence related to his daughter’s treatment.

Madson accuses the defendants of launching a coercive cease-and-desist campaign that violated their civil rights by attempting to silence him from advocating for his daughter’s rights. He alleges that this campaign was particularly egregious given that the medical facility was under scrutiny by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for issues including patient rights violations. Madson asserts that the defendants were aware of these issues yet still sought to delay his actions until after CMS’s Immediate Jeopardy designation had been resolved.

In response to these actions, Madson is seeking several forms of relief from the court. He requests compensatory damages determined by a jury for each claim presented in his complaint. Additionally, he seeks punitive damages as well as prejudgment interest on these damages along with attorney fees and costs associated with the action.

The case is being handled pro se by Bill Madson himself without legal representation. The presiding judge is not mentioned in the document but it is filed under Case ID 1:25-cv-00425-MOC-WCM.