A jury has ordered Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, to pay $52 million to MRI Associates for violating a partnership agreement, according to a BusinessWeek report.
This is the second time MRI Associates’ lawsuit against St. Alphonsus has gone to trial. The first trial took place in 2007 and ended in a $63 million verdict, which was later overturned by the Idaho Supreme Court.
MRI Associates partnered with St. Alphonsus in 1985, and the partnership was supposed to last until 2015. In 1998, however, a group of radiologists from the hospital planned to build their own outpatient medical imaging facility. In 2004, the hospital told MRI Associates that it was exiting the partnership in favor of the competing company started by its physicians, according to the report.
The hospital then sued MRI Associates for its portion of the ownership in MRI Associates. The MRI company countersued, contending the hospital breached the terms of the partnership agreement when it became a competitor.
A hospital spokesperson said St. Alphonsus plans to appeal the verdict.
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