Walker County, Ga., taxpayers are still on the hook for a $10 million bill to Erlanger Health System because, in the eyes of a federal justice, a promise is a promise.
U.S. District Court Judge Harold Murphy denied the county’s motion to dismiss a suit against it Friday, saying the county’s arguments to avoid making an eight-figure payment to Erlanger were not strong enough. The fight between Erlanger and Walker County, which began in the fall of 2013, will continue.
Erlanger is demanding the $10 million because the hospital’s leaders agreed to loan Hutcheson Medical Center $20 million as part of a management deal in April 2011. In an intergovernmental agreement at the time, the elected leaders of Catoosa and Walker counties each promised to guarantee half of that loan should Hutcheson fail to pay Erlanger back.
The partnership between Erlanger and Hutcheson died in 2013, and Erlanger first demanded its money back the next year. Since then, the two sides have been tangled in lawsuits, as well as Hutcheson’s bankruptcy filing.
But on Friday, Murphy said the evidence is clear: The local governments have to pay Erlanger.