A Suffolk Superior Court jury last week awarded more than $22 million to Lynn Hlatky, PhD, a cancer researcher who sued Boston-based Steward Health Care over a series of events that ultimately led to the destruction of her lab in 2014, the Boston Globe reported.
Dr. Hlatky had argued Steward breached its contract with her when it spun off her research lab at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in 2013 to Genesys Research Institute, a nonprofit biotechnology firm based in Boston. After facing serious financial problems, Genesys closed Dr. Hlatky's lab in September 2014 before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Her lab was liquidated — the equipment was auctioned off and thousands of containers that held cells, proteins and other biological research matter were incinerated.
Dr. Hlatky's attorneys estimated that she will ultimately collect $34 million in payments from Steward, including interest.
"We feel vindicated," Dr. Hlatky said of the verdict, according to the report.
Steward said the decision was "outrageous and unwarranted," according to the report. The health system's lawyers questioned Dr. Hlatky's work, saying it was a "speculative research project that failed to produce any usable treatments for cancer patients," and vowed to repeal the verdict.
Read the full report here.