SEIU-UHW
President Dave Regan has suffered
yet another setback in his $25 million quest to forge a secret "partnership"
with the California Hospital Association
(CHA).
According to
court records, Regan has voluntarily dropped a lawsuit that SEIU-UHW filed against
CHA’s top officials just 12 weeks ago.
Here's
what's going on:
In November,
CHA officials announced they were ditching Regan in favor of their new pals at
the SEIU California State Council
and the California Teachers Association.
Like a jilted lover, Regan angrily
sued CHA CEO Duane Dauner in
Sacramento County Superior Court, alleging Dauner violated their secret
"partnership" deal and was a "saboteur."
The CHA
then counter-sued Regan, asserting that SEIU-UHW is barred from filing any
lawsuits against the CHA due to a secret gag clause signed by Regan.
The gag
clause, which has now
emerged in court documents, not only prohibits SEIU-UHW from suing hospitals
or their execs, it also blocks the purple union from "raising concerns
about... executive compensation in health care," initiating or supporting legislation
that's "adverse to the interests of the hospital industry," saying
"derogatory" things about corporations and their bosses, etc.
When a
process server attempted to deliver legal documents to Regan's home on behalf
of the CHA, Regan allegedly pushed the process server down the stairs of his
home, breaking his arm. The District Attorney will decide whether
to file criminal charges against Regan, according
to CBS News.
As for the dueling
lawsuits in Superior Court, it looks like the CHA has come out on
top.
Earlier this
month, SEIU-UHW quietly dropped the lawsuit it filed just weeks earlier amidst beaucoup
hoopla.
Here's an
excerpt from a sworn declaration submitted to the judge by Matthew Silveira, an attorney for the CHA, describing the phone
call and e-mail he received from SEIU-UHW's attorneys announcing "that UHW
had filed a Request for Dismissal of this action in its entirety."
Additional court
records (see below) confirm that SEIU-UHW has voluntarily withdrawn its entire
lawsuit against the CHA.
 |
| Bruce Harland: Adios! |
So what happened?
Tasty’s hunch
is that Ragin’ Dave Regan and his hack attorney, Bruce Harland of Weinberg,
Roger and Rosenfeld, simply f*cked up.
Back in November, they were so hot
to sue the CHA that they simply failed to pay attention to the massive gag
clause and arbitration clause that plainly blocked SEIU-UHW from filing a suit.
Harland actually helped to negotiate the gag clause. Go figure.
Perhaps
that's why Regan, in mid-January, dumped Harland and replaced him
with a second firm, Prometheus Partners
of San Francisco.
In February,
SEIU-UHW’s new attorney Eduardo Roy submitted a two-page filing to the court
stating:
"…UHW has submitted to the Court a Request for Dismissal. Because UHW is voluntarily dismissing its action, there is no threat that CHA's interests could be impaired…"
Here's the
full document. Stay tuned.
