TIMELINE OF EVENTS
* 2009-10: Hutcheson Medical Center loses about $14 million * May 2011: Losing about $1 million a month, Hutcheson officials and Erlanger Health System officials enter into a management agreement * June 2013: Hutcheson posts a profit and announces it will enter a leasing agreement with Erlanger for 10 years. But the agreement falls apart after a study of Hutcheson’s financial viability and market share value. * August 2013: Hutcheson severs the management agreement, claiming Erlanger did not hold up its end of the pact. * September 2013: Hutcheson seeks other health care providers to take over management. Only Erlanger and Chattanooga company Lincoln Healthcare submit proposals, and Hutcheson accepts neither. * January 2014: Erlanger sues Hutcheson, demanding loan repayment. * February 2014: Hutcheson countersues. Its attorney, former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, claims Erlanger did not hold up its end of the management agreement. * July 2014 Erlanger moves to foreclose and auction the hospital’s property. * August 2014: A federal judge in Rome, Ga., halts the planned foreclosure, saying that keeping the hospital open is in the public interest and overcoming an auction sale could be “insurmountable” for the hospital. * November 2014: Hutcheson files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. * April 3, 2015: Hutcheson’s attorneys accuse Erlanger of fraud, say Erlanger got secret emails during 2011 negotiations. * April 20, 2015: Erlanger says the emails were not secret.
With an uppercut, Erlanger Health System responded to fraud accusations this week, saying leaders from Hutcheson Medical Center and Walker County, Ga., are liars.
Erlanger and Hutcheson are tangled in federal lawsuits with millions at stake — half of which might come from the pockets of Walker County taxpayers. Three weeks ago, Hutcheson’s attorneys said Erlanger secretly received emails it should not have seen, giving its leaders a competitive edge against the Fort Oglethorpe hospital.
On Monday, Erlanger’s lawyer called that accusation nonsense.
“[Hutcheson’s] penchant for hyperbole and unfounded accusations against Erlanger is nothing new,” attorney Edward Marshall wrote in a U.S. District Court filing. “Desperate circumstances, and a desire to escape from a $20 million debt without paying a cent, have caused HMC and Walker County to do increasingly desperate things.