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Seattle Times: Appeals court rules against dentist
By Maureen O'Hagan
Seattle Times staff reporter

It began innocently enough, with a dentist's joke about a potbellied pig named Walter.

Then came a set of fake boar's tusks—placed in a patient's mouth—and things got really out of hand.

Now, six years, two lawsuits and millions of dollars later, the battle of the boar's tusks is still simmering.

On Monday, the state Court of Appeals ruled that an insurance company had no obligation to defend dentist Robert Woo, whose idea of a practical joke was to photograph the set of teeth in the mouth of the anesthetized patient. The ruling overturns a jury verdict of $750,000—in favor of the dentist—but leaves intact a $250,000 settlement with the patient.

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