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| SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan |
Here’s the
latest on SEIU-UHW’s legal battles with its erstwhile corporate partners at the
California Hospital Association
(CHA).
In recent
months, the two organizations filed dueling lawsuits after their secret partnership
deal exploded in flames.
Under the
defunct partnership deal, SEIU-UHW President Dave
Regan agreed to deliver $6 billion in public Medicaid funds to hospital
CEOs in exchange for the right to unionize up to 60,000 California hospital
workers without employer opposition.
Regan also agreed
to help hospital bosses by forcing workers into cheap labor contracts and silencing
them with a “gag
clause” that blocks workers from filing complaints against hospital corporations for patient care violations.
Who’s
winning the dueling lawsuits?
The CHA.
In mid-March,
a Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled in favor of a CHA lawsuit that seeks
to force SEIU-UHW into binding arbitration over its alleged violations of the
secret “gag clause.”
SEIU-UHW, after
losing in Superior Court, then appealed the judge’s decision to the California Court
of Appeal (Third Appellate District) on April 6.
Just two days later, however,
the appeals court “summarily denied” SEIU-UHW’s appeal. (See a copy of the
Appeal Court’s order below.)
What happens
now?
An
arbitrator will conduct hearings on SEIU-UHW’s alleged violations of the partnership deal and will then issue a binding decision. The arbitrator’s
hearings -- which are private -- apparently began on April 13.
Meanwhile, the
CHA is trying to gain an upper hand over a lawsuit
filed by SEIU-UHW in Sacramento Superior Court in November. In February, Regan became so worried about the
viability of his lawsuit that he unilaterally dropped the suit… only to re-file
it days later in Los Angeles, some 500 miles away, in an apparent game of legal
hide n’ seek.
On May 20, a
Los Angeles judge will hear CHA’s request to send Regan’s lawsuit back to
Finally, there
are the multiple civil and criminal actions connected to Regan’s alleged
violent assault on a process server who tried to deliver CHA court documents to
Regan’s home in a wealthy suburb of the San Francisco Bay Area.
In both February
and March, a Contra Costa County Superior Court judge issued temporary
restraining orders against Regan. Just two weeks ago, the judge issued yet another
legal order -- a “restraining order for civil harassment” against Regan, which
will last for a lengthier period of time.
As far as
the criminal investigation into Regan, the Contra Costa District
Attorney’s Office is continuing its review to determine whether it will file
criminal charges against him.
Earlier, Tasty
published the victim’s
jaw-dropping account of Regan’s assault… which includes photos of the
process server’s bruised body resulting from Regan’s kicks to his body and punches
to the head.
Here's a copy of the California Court of Appeals decision denying Regan's recent appeal of a judge's decision regarding his secret partnership deal with the California Hospital Association.
