The Gazette

GRANT WINS $1.25 MILLION IN ST. LUKE'S FIRING SUIT
By Dick Hogan
Gazette courts reporter

A jury Thursday awarded Cedar Rapids pathologist Dr. Kingsley Grant more than $1.25 million in damages from St. Luke's Hospital and its president, Sam Wallace.

Within hours, the hospital's board of directors voted to appeal the verdict to a higher court.

During the Linn District Court trial, which began Sept. 10, Grant contended Wallace and the hospital breached an oral contract for pathology services with his professional group, Associated Pathologists, and made fraudulent misrepresentations to him.

Grant claimed he was assured by Wallace in May 1984 that his written contract would be renewed annually until he retired in 1991.

On Dec. 1, 1988, the hospital board decided not to renew Grant's contract.

Wallace and St. Luke's denied Grant's allegations, claiming no oral agreement existed.

Jurors got the case about 1 p.m. Tuesday and reached their unanimous verdict around 10:30 a.m. Thursday. The verdict said:

{Wallace and the hospital had entered into an oral contract with Grant not to terminate his annual written contract until he retired in 1991.

For breach of that contract, the jury awarded damages of $857,846.

{Grant's evidence proved fraudulent misrepresentation.

Damages of $1 were awarded on that point.

{Grant's evidence proved Wallace's conduct was willful and wanton and directed toward Grant.

For that, the jury assessed $400,000 in punitive damages against Wallace.

In the suit filed Nov. 23, 1988, Grant had sought $1.5 million and unspecified punitive damages.

"I'm terribly disappointed," was the only comment Greg Lederer, attorney for St. Luke's and Wallace, would make after the verdict.

Barry Spear, hospital vice president, said the St. Luke's Board of Directors met at 4 p.m. Thursday and unanimously passed a resolution to immediately appeal the verdict to a higher court.

Also, Spear said, board members "in the strongest possible terms affirmed their total support for Sam Wallace in his position as president and chief executive officer."

Earlier, in a prepared statement, Spear said of the verdict, "We maintain that we acted in good faith and within the parameters of the contract with Associated Pathologists, P.C., and in the best interests of our patients and the physicians who work with St. Luke's Hospital.

"We understand the jury was placed in a difficult position - an emotional position. Contract and personnel questions are often found to be difficult to resolve impartially."

Grant said he was "thankful to the jury and they demonstrated what I would call the basic fairness that exists in Linn County and throughout Iowa."

Grant, 59, said his future plans are unchanged. He plans to continue consulting work until he retires next year. Then he will return to Belize, his native country.

Grant's attorney, Tom Riley, said the verdict "came down to credibility. It was a simple case of the jury having to decide which party was telling the truth . . . They found that the president of one of Iowa's largest hospitals engaged in fraudulent misrepresentation."

The jury was well-selected with people on it from all walks of life, Riley said.

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