CLEVELAND, Ohio — A federal judge has denied MetroHealth System’s attempt to sanction an attorney who represented a former Cuyahoga County Jail nursing supervisor in a whistleblower lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge J. Philip Calabrese rejected the hospital system’s argument that Cleveland attorney Subodh Chandra used inappropriate and dishonest tactics during the case he filed on behalf of Gary Brack.
MetroHealth wanted Chandra to pay for its attorney fees accrued during the lawsuit that accused the county and hospital officials of firing Brack after he spoke out against jail conditions at a public meeting in 2018. The county settled the case for $99,000, and the remaining accusations against MetroHealth were dismissed.
In an order last week, Calabrese wrote that because the case settled out of court, no determinations were made about who was at fault.
The judge said the settlement led MetroHealth officials to “seek the vindication” they didn’t get following the settlement by moving for sanctions against Chandra. Calabrese wrote that Chandra “represented Mr. Brack aggressively, but within the bounds of his professional and ethical obligations.”
Chandra, in a statement to cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, criticized MetroHealth CEO Akram Boutros and said the accusations against him amounted to a “personal tantrum” and that MetroHealth’s board “ought to supervise [Boutros].”
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