Lawyers representing laid-off workers at former Pineville, La.-based LSU Huey P. Long Medical Center said during a hearing Tuesday state officials violated the Louisiana Open Meetings Law in their hurried attempt to close the charity hospital in 2014, according to The Advocate.
Lawyers on behalf of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 17 and former hospital workers argued Tuesday the state Senate violated the state's Open Meetings Law when a Senate committee added a resolution regarding the hospital closure to its agenda without providing prior notice, the report states.
However, attorneys for the state and Baton Rouge-based Louisiana State University stated the committee had posted a notice regarding the meeting within the proper time periods. They contended the state Constitution grants the Legislature the authority to write and enforce its own rules, including the ability to change committee meeting agendas without following the same notification procedures required of other state agencies, according to the report.
"I have to admit that you may be within the rule, but it sure does smell," Judge John T. Pettigrew, one of three judges on the panel, told lawyers for the Senate and LSU during Tuesday's hearing.
In June 2014, a district court judge ruled the Senate had violated the Open Meetings Law and issued an injunction to stop the hospital's closure. However, the injunction was suspended during the appellate process, allowing officials to close the charity hospital and lay off about 550 employees, the report states.
When the case returned to the district court in June 2016, the judge ruled in favor of the original verdict, stating the Senate committee's resolution was "null and void" and former employees may seek fees, costs and expenses, according to the report.
Lawyers for the former workers said Tuesday while it would not be practical to reopen the facility three years later, former employees should be entitled to back pay for their services, the report states.
It is unclear when the panel of judges will issue a verdict on the matter.