Health Commons wants no role in settlement

November 12, 2009

Valencia Health Commons, the local nonprofit under contract with the county to manage the hospital project, has told Valencia County it wants no role in ongoing lawsuit settlement discussions.

In September, the attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which challenges the legality of the contract, sent a settlement offer to county commissioners.

The commission voted 4-1 that month agreeing “in principle” to the requests in the offer. Acceptance of the settlement, however, was contingent in part upon trying to work with Valencia Health Commons to reach agreement on moving the project forward under the terms of the settlement.

The attorney for the health commons last week called the county’s attorney in the hospital matter to say the group wouldn’t be contributing further to settlement discussions, having “no comments with regards to the settlement proposal.”

The health commons attorney told the county the group “plans to proceed in the direction they have been working toward: building a hospital for Valencia County.”

Last month, Valencia Health Commons, Commission Chairman Pedro Rael and Commissioner Ron Gentry met behind closed doors and agreed to hold another similar meeting to discuss the settlement. Another meeting seems unlikely.

This month, the hospital lawsuit, which is at the New Mexico Court of Appeals, was assigned to a panel of judges, with varying estimates on how long it could take to get a decision, ranging from one month to a year. The court itself won’t give a time frame, saying it could be weeks or months.

Valencia! sought comments from Bob Davey, the board chairman of Valencia Health Commons, but he was unavailable.

Related Documents:

(Valencia! redacted one address, one telephone number, one fax number, one email address and one signature.)

Posted in: Hospital