SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AFX) - A jury on Friday ordered one of the country's largest labor unions to pay $17.3 million for defaming a group of Northern California doctors and hospitals.
The jury found the New York-based Unite Here union had acted with 'fraud, malice or oppression' when it mailed defamatory postcards about Sutter Health.
'We are pleased that leaders of Unite Here have been held legally accountable for recklessly frightening patients and the public through outrageous and false allegations,' said Michael Roosevelt, chair of the Sutter Health Board of Directors.
Unite Here sent a mass mailing last year claiming Sutter Health used inadequately cleaned bed linens in its hospitals. The linens were cleaned by a commercial laundry service, which was embroiled in a labor dispute with the union.
Unite Here, which represents casino, hotel, restaurant and uniform/laundry workers, did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Sutter Health's chief medical officer said the $17.3 million would be invested in patient care services at its hospitals.
The plaintiffs included the Sacramento Sierra Region of Sutter Health; Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and Oakland; California Pacific Medical Center and St. Lukes Hospital in San Francisco; Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley; Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae; Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame; Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch; Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo; Memorial Hospital Los Banos in Los Banos; Sutter Amador Hospital in Jackson; Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport; and Memorial Medical Center in Modesto.
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