Since the
collapse of his secretive
partnership deal with the California
Hospital Association, Dave Regan
has spent upwards of $1 million of SEIU-UHW members’ dues money on law firms to
represent him in a series of failed lawsuits, according to figures released
this week by SEIU-UHW.
The revelations
are contained in SEIU-UHW’s annual report to the US Department of Labor, which
was signed by Regan on March 30, 2017.
In 2016
alone, Regan delivered $672,049 of
SEIU-UHW’s funds to Prometheus Partners
LLP, a San Francisco law firm representing him in various lawsuits against
the California Hospital Association
(CHA). Here’s an excerpt from SEIU-UHW’s Form LM-2 documenting these payments:
Prometheus
Partners represents Regan in a lawsuit, “David Regan vs. Duane Dauner,” filed
by Regan in February 2016. In January 2017, a judge effectively tossed
out Regan’s lawsuit.
Soon
thereafter, Regan paid the San Francisco law firm to sue the entire Sacramento County
Superior Court. And
Regan lost again.
Regan used a
separate law firm -- Weinberg, Roger and
Rosenfeld -- to file other lawsuits against the CHA, which were also
unsuccessful. According to SEIU-UHW’s filing this week, the union paid more
than $1.1 million to the Alameda, Calif. firm during 2016. In addition to
representing Regan in those suits, the firm also performed other legal services
for the union.
Altogether,
Regan has spent upwards of $20 million of SEIU-UHW members’ union dues on his
so-called CHA strategy, which hinged on negotiating a secret sweetheart deal
with hospital CEOs.
Among other
provisions, Regan’s deal was designed to force SEIU-UHW members into
pre-negotiated labor contracts with stripped-down wages and benefits, to prohibit
workers from striking, and to use a far-reaching gag clause to block them from
reporting substandard staffing and other patient-care violations to government
oversight agencies. In addition to legal fees, Regan spent millions to hire
signature-gathering firms in an effort to qualify initiatives for the
California ballot.
In addition
to costing boatloads of workers’ money, Regan’s dueling lawsuits with the CHA famously
landed him in criminal court after he reportedly broke
the arm of a process server who was attempting to deliver legal documents
to Regan’s Kensington, Calif. home on behalf of the California Hospital
Association. It’s unclear whether Regan used the union’s funds to pay for legal
representation in this personal criminal matter, which was referred to the
District Attorney’s office.
How much of
SEIU-UHW members’ dues payments will Regan flush down the toilet in 2017?
We’ll have
to wait until next year’s report to answer that question.
