Lawsuit to recoup more than $300K in back management fees filed

HOUSTON - In an effort to retrieve nearly $310,000 in back management fees and expenses, Diamond Healthcare Corp. has filed a lawsuit.

Recent court documents filed Jan. 23 in Houston federal court claim GCMC of Wharton County L.L.C. owe the plaintiff $312,877.03.

The suit explains the complainant originally entered into an agreement with Signature Gulf Coast Hospital in November 2009 to provide behavioral health management services to the Gulf Coast Medical Center in Wharton.

The agreement calls for the plaintiff to be paid $9,000 monthly for the development and management of an in-patient behavioral health unit in addition to $4,000 per month for the development and management of a structured outpatient unit at the hospital.

More than two years after the contract's execution, Signature, which is not a party in the case, informed the complainant that it had sold the hospital to the defendant and requested that the plaintiff approved the agreement assigned to the respondent.

The original petition shows the defendant wrote the plaintiff expressing its desire to end the agreement, adding the parties worked toward setting a final date for it.

According to the complainant, the defendant requested that it remove its personnel and property from the hospital during the supposed agreed upon month of December 2012 "but has ceased all communications and has failed and refused to pay the plaintiff any of the money [owed] under the agreement."

Attorney Fred W. Stumpf with Boyer Jacobs Short in Houston is representing the complainant.

Case No. 4:13-CV-165