Dave Regan has
apparently lost yet another round of his legal battle against the California
Hospital Association (CHA), according to court records.
On June 14, 2017,
Regan’s lawyers submitted a formal notice to the Sacramento County (Calif.)
Superior Court announcing that Regan is dropping his personal lawsuit against
the CHA. A copy of the notice is posted below.
Why is he dropping
his lawsuit?
Regan was likely
forced to do so by an outside arbitrator, who was ordered by a Superior Court
judge to examine whether Regan’s personal lawsuit violates a provision of Regan’s
secret deal with the Hospital Association. As part of the deal, Regan signed a
far-reaching “gag
clause” and arbitration provision that blocks him and SEIU-UHW members from
criticizing hospitals execs, supporting legislation contrary to execs’
interests, suing hospital corporations, or even mentioning hospital executives’
gold-plated salaries in public.
Here’s what happened:
In late 2015, Regan’s
“partnership” deal with the CHA collapsed in flames.
Under the 2014 partnership
deal, Regan agreed to use SEIU’s political power to deliver $6 billion a year
in new Medicaid revenues to California’s hospital corporations. In exchange for
the cash, hospital CEOs would push 60,000 of their employees into Regan’s union.
Regan sweetened the deal for the bosses by agreeing to ban workers from
striking and forcing SEIU-UHW members into pre-negotiated labor contracts with
stripped down wages and benefits.
Soon after the
collapse of his secret deal, Ragin’ Dave Regan angrily sued
Duane Dauner and three other top CHA officials. Regan also re-filed
a statewide ballot initiative to target CHA’s members.
The CHA quickly filed
a counter-suit
against Regan, arguing that his actions were prohibited by the “gag clause” that
Regan himself had signed on behalf of SEIU-UHW.
In June of 2016, a
judge agreed with the CHA and ordered
SEIU-UHW to withdraw the ballot initiative after Regan had spent millions of
dollars of SEIU-UHW members’ dues money to collect signatures to qualify the
initiative for the ballot.
 |
| SEIU-UHW's Dave Kieffer |
Next, the CHA asked
the court to force Regan to drop his lawsuit against Dauner and three other top
CHA officials. The CHA argued that the suit also violated Regan’s gag clause.
In January 2017, a judge ordered
the issue to be resolved by an outside arbitrator.
Last week, Regan’s
lawyers informed the court that Regan is dropping his lawsuit against Dauner
and three other CHA officials, including Kaiser Permanente’s Greg Adams. Regan
likely dropped the suit as a result the arbitrator’s decision, which is not
available to the public.
This latest
developments represent yet another stinging defeat for Regan and SEIU-UHW.
When
Regan announced his secret deal with the CHA in 2014, Regan borrowed a page from
Donald Trump and famously called it an "audacious
new proposal to save the labor movement" …even though it violated
every value held dear by the labor movement.
Way to go, Dave!
Several important
questions remain unresolved:
- Did the arbitrator also order Regan to pay all of the CHA’s legal costs? That could total millions of dollars.
- Who will pay all of millions of dollars of legal bills connected to Regan’s disastrous lawsuit, including the fancy lawyers hired by Regan? Since the suit was filed in Regan’s personal name, shouldn’t he pay for it? Regan will undoubtedly try to push the costs of his bone-headed lawsuit onto SEIU-UHW’s members.
- What about the $34 million that Regan squirreled away inside a secret “partnership” organization? The CHA has demanded that Regan return the money. Their demands are part of legal claims filed with the Superior Court.
Stay tuned.
