Garth Brooks awarded $1 million in hospital lawsuit

Garth Brooks leaves a courtroom during a civil trial at the Rogers County Courthouse in Claremore, Okla. on Jan. 23, 2012.

/ AP

CLAREMORE, Okla. (CBS/AP) - Garth Brooks has been awarded $1 million in a breach-of-contract lawsuit against an Oklahoma hospital that failed to build a women's health center in honor of his mother, Colleen Brooks, who died of cancer in 1999.

Jurors on Tuesday evening ruled that the hospital must return Brooks' $500,000 donation plus pay him $500,000 in punitive damages. The decision came against Integris Canadian Valley Regional Hospital in Yukon.

Brooks said he thought he'd reached a deal in 2005 with the hospital's president, James Moore, but sued after learning the hospital wanted to use the money for other construction projects.

Jury member Beverly Lacy said she voted in favor of Brooks because she thought the hospital went back on its word. As far as the punitive damages, she said, "We wanted to show them not to do that anymore to anyone else."

The hospital argued that Brooks gave it unrestricted access to the $500,000 donation and only later asked that it build a women's center and name it after his mother.

Brooks called the jurors "heroes" and said he felt vindicated by their verdict.

"I no longer feel like I'm crazy," he said.

During the trial, Brooks testified that he thought he had a solid agreement with Moore. Brooks said the hospital president initially suggested putting his mother's name on an intensive care unit, and when Brooks said that wouldn't fit her image, Moore suggested a women's center.

"I jumped all over it," Brooks told jurors in tearful testimony. "It's my mom. My mom was pregnant as a teenager. She had a rough start. She wanted to help every kid out there."

Before the verdict was read on Tuesday, Brooks said the day had been emotional. The country music star said he was simply trying to honor his mother.

"This little pistol, she deserves nothing but good," Brooks said.

Brooks will resume his Las Vegas run this Friday at the Wynn's Encore Theater. He has scattered dates scheduled at the Vegas venue through June 2012.

[macthefloorguy]

I grew up in Yukon and graduated with Garth's brother, Jerome Smittle, who was my very good friend. "Jerry" passed away about 5 years ago of complications from diabetes, and from being shot when he was on a drug raid about 20 years before when he was a deputy Sheriff in Tulsa. Garth and Tricia were at Jerry's bedside when he passed away. Garth is a very compassionate and caring man, lives near here on a ranch and is always friendly to locals when they go out to eat, go shopping, etc. My wife has met him a couple of times at Old Navy and a sporting goods store, and he always is friendly to anyone who says hello to him. They attend their kids sporting events and sit in the crowd with everybody else. He's just a really good guy, and I know how much he loved his mother who passed away at a young age. This hospital should be ashamed of themselves for letting this go this far. When I lived in Yukon, there was no hospital, and I wouldn't want to go there now after seeing how they treat poeple who hand them a half million dollars. Integris should consider changing their name, because, apparantly, they are somewhat lacking in INTEGRITY.

[TJTAmarillo]

After reading about the case there are some notable details including that the donation/gift was anonymous, the accountant did not have any notes detailing that the gift had conditions. Mr Brooks could not remember what he said regarding the gift-whether to build a womens center or name an area after his mom. In regards to letting the case go this far, Integris wanted to give the money back when litigation was being pursued by Mr Brooks. Mr Brooks declined that offer opting for a jury trial. I wonder if Mr Brooks intended to have his fans continue to slander the hospital that serves his hometown community? With Mr Brooks turning 50 and not taking care of himself (he is obviously overweight) he should be accessing medical care-possibly an Integris hospital in oklahoma?

[bobnjersey]

[Jurors on Tuesday evening ruled that the hospital must return Brooks' $500,000 donation plus pay him $500,000 in punitive damages. The decision came against Integris Canadian Valley Regional Hospital in Yukon.]
---------------------------------
so ... instead of now having another facility for the care of those in need ... the hospital has $500,000 less ... and whatever the attorney's fees were ... to care for those people that garth wanted to help?

is that the outcome here?

thanks for helping garth ... mom would be so proud of you?

[abigail4476]

I read in another article that the hospital had the option to donate the money to another charity or give it back to Garth. He was fine with them giving the money to someone else in need. I'm sure he'll put the money to good use, but it was HIS money to begin with. (The original $500,000, anyway.) If he spends it all on 100 new guitars, it's his business. Obviously his heart is in the right place or he wouldn't have made the donation to begin with. Personally, I hope he sets up a foundation in his mother's name, but it's no skin off my nose or anyone else's either way.

[reality45]

He made it clear it was about principle. He wanted to honor his mother!

[debbiett]

Way to go, Garth. There should have been nothing less than this as the outcome. If the hospital wasn't going to honor the agreement they shouldn't have made it in the first place, or at least given you the opportunity to approve or disapprove of the changes they made. This wasn't their money to spend as they wanted. This is letting all those know not to act so careless with donations when they are desperately needed. Whether Garth needed the money or not isn't the issue. Because he could afford it he gave it. Since the hospital thought he could care less about his money and his mother they chose to act without regard to his feelings and intentions. It wasn't about the money for him.

[babyrotty]

I totally agree with the comments expressed by "debbiett" above.

[maxinerwb]

I think he deserved to get his money back. Hospitals lie all the time. $5.00 per aspirin, tylenol, etc. What a crock. They won't let you bring your meds from home, they make you buy meds (prescribed by a doctor) from them at a highly, highly, inflated price. Hospitals used to be non-profit. They were completely ruined (as far as I am concerned) when they became profit making businesses. Doctors make way too much money for too little input. When I go to the Doctor I expect to see him, not some PA.

[macthefloorguy]

$5 for an aspirin? That was 30 years ago. My wife was hospitalized 3 times in the last 2 years after suffering a fall on ice and brain injury at work. She had a "breathing treatment" done just before she checked out the last time she was in. I was just going througn the bill last night, and I was there when the "treatment" was given, which was near nothing as far as I could tell. The " "treatment" took about 3 minutes and we were billed over $600 for it. I wish we had real SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. We are the only major country in the world out of the top 50 which does not have universal health care of some sort. Our average cost is over 18 percent of income, about double the closest other country's cost and more than triple many countries which have a cost factor of below 5 percent. Despite paying double or triple what everybody else pays, we are number 50 in life expectancy, dying an average of more than 3 years earlier than Canadians. We are number 1 in OBESITY at nearly 35 percent, more than double the closest "rival". WE are near the top in juvenile diabetis and in infant mortality. And the republicans think this system is fine? These figures are from that Liberal bastion, the CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency's website.

[deerinthelights]

and this is newsworthy because?????? It's not like the money means anything to him anyhow.

[Zann-Zel]

His mother meant everything to him and that is what this is about.

[NXTNTTT]

Regardless the outcome, it will be more positive if the proceed will be used to build a larger project with the same cause.