HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Guam Memorial Hospital board of trustees has voted to settle a case involving a doctor who was terminated in 2014.
The board made the decision to settle the case involving Dr. Ian Richardson after Special Assistant Attorney General Joseph McDonald, who represents the hospital, told them that it wasn’t in the best interest of the hospital to continue.
“I did my homework on what the potential amount of the claims (are). The judge had been stating on the record that it didn’t look too good for the hospital. So that put us into a settlement posture. We were able to whittle down settlement away from maximum exposure to where it is today at $255,000,” McDonald told the board last week Wednesday.
The settlement represents somewhere between 4.5 and 5.8 cents on the dollar if Richardson were to be awarded what he’s asked.
“In other words, this should be seen as a very reasonable settlement that actually is favorable in many respects for the hospital,” McDonald said.
If the case had been able to run its course, the hospital would have paid significantly more, according to McDonald.
“Also, given the sort of posturing that the parties and the judge has announced on the record, it looked like it could have headed towards an unfavorable resolution,” he said.
With this in mind, McDonald recommended that the board approve the settlement agreement, which also came with terms.
“It’s a structured agreement, so not only are we really coming down on the dollar amount that the hospital is exposed to but we’re also doing it on terms. And those terms are $55,000 payment that’s going to be paid or duly paid if the board approves this on … Jan. 15 and thereafter $20,000 a month for the next 10 months – also a very favorable structure for the hospital,” McDonald said. “So I have no reservations, knowing what I know, having studied this and seeing where the chips are falling, I have no reservation to make a recommendation to the board that it does accept this settlement.”
The 2014 case filed against the hospital by Richardson is related to his employment and termination.
As part of the terms, Richardson will be allowed to resign instead of being terminated. The date of resignation would reflect the date of the original separation.
The settlement agreement was approved by the board.
Guam Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023, in Tamuning. The hospital and Dr. Ian Richardson agreed to a settlement in an employment case.
