Report: Regan Spent Upwards of $1 million of SEIU-UHW Dues on Failed Lawsuits against Hospital Association

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.

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan Runs for Hills, Dropping Lawsuit against Hospital Association

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.

  SEIU-UHW's Request for Dismissal of Lawsuit versus the California Hospital Association: 02-04-2016