Firm wins $16.4M jury verdict on behalf of health care provider
Following a four-week trial, a Suffolk Superior Court jury awarded Dallas-based Steward Medical Group, Inc. $16.4 million against Compass Medical Group P.C., a Quincy, Mass.-based medical practice. With interest and costs, the final judgment will likely exceed $25 million.
Howard M. Cooper, Seth J. Robbins, Grace E. Coller, and Evan A. Johnson represent Steward Medical.
Compass Medical had sued Steward for $90 million in damages claiming that Steward had breached a services agreement. The jury rejected all of Compass Medical’s claims, finding instead that it had committed fraud against Steward Medical and awarding Steward Medical the damages it sought.
The jury, which deliberated approximately four hours, found that Compass Medical had fraudulently concealed in the services agreement’s base compensation rate federal incentive payments for switching to electronic records, resulting in $11.6 million in overpayments by Steward Medical. The parties did not intend to include these incentive payments in the base rate for medical services provided by Compass Medical
The jury also found that Compass Medical, in addition to breaching the services agreement, engaged in fraudulent billing practices, withheld quarterly accounting information, and failed to provide updated information on the increased use of non-physician medical providers.
“This is a tremendous vindication for Steward Medical after years of litigation. We are grateful to the careful work done by the jury in this case,” said Mr. Cooper, lead counsel at trial.