All claims brought against Medical Properties Trust and other entities rejected

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE: MPW) announced today that a State District Court jury in Harris County, Texas rejected all claims brought against the company and other entities by a group of physicians whose efforts to create and operate a new hospital in Houston failed in 2006.

“We are delighted that after a two-month trial, a jury of conscientious citizens needed less than two days of deliberations to unanimously find in favor of Medical Properties Trust”

After a trial that spanned 10 weeks, the jury found unanimously in favor of Medical Properties Trust, Inc. on all counts brought against it regarding the termination of the leases of Houston Town and Country Hospital and medical office building in 2006. In the lawsuit, which has been previously disclosed, the physicians had asserted that MPT’s actions interfered with their efforts to enroll their Medicare patients in a for-profit insurance arrangement that would have resulted in multi-million dollar payments to the physicians from the insurance company. The jury also unanimously rejected the physician group’s allegations that Memorial Hermann Healthcare System violated antitrust laws, causing the hospital to fail.

The jury’s verdict, absent an appeal by the plaintiff physicians, brings to substantial conclusion the legal proceedings related to MPT’s termination of the leases.

“We are delighted that after a two-month trial, a jury of conscientious citizens needed less than two days of deliberations to unanimously find in favor of Medical Properties Trust,” said Edward K. Aldag, Jr., MPT’s chairman, president and CEO. “We said at the time this suit was filed that there was no merit to these allegations and that we would fight them to the end,” added Aldag, “and we are very gratified that the jury’s decision has completely vindicated our company.”