Top Doctor Wins Bulk of Ruling
The medical director of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton wrongfully terminated one of his surgeons but did not use his authority to cheat the doctor out of $130,000, a jury in San Bernardino decided Tuesday.
The verdict in the civil dispute was viewed by both sides as a significant victory for Dr. Appannagari Gnanadev, the medical director accused by the surgeon, Dr. David Colgrove, of manipulating earnings and expense records at the hospital to cheat Colgrove out of the money.
Colgrove's attorney promised to appeal the decision, saying Superior Court Judge Christopher Warner barred the jury from seeing several key documents that bolstered Colgrove's case.
"I'm very disappointed," Colgrove said after the verdict. "I don't think justice was served."
Arrowhead is a 373-bed facility run by San Bernardino County and the county's second-largest hospital.
Gnanadev has been the hospital's medical director since 2000. He is also president and sole owner of the Arrowhead Community Surgical Medical Group Inc., a for-profit company that is contracted by the county to provide all surgical services to the hospital. Gnanadev hired Colgrove as an ear, nose and throat surgeon in July 2000.
The lawsuit stemmed from a dispute over the $130,000, which Colgrove said Gnanadev loaned him to buy a home and launch a part-time medical clinic in Redlands.
Colgrove said he had an oral agreement with Gnanadev to pay off the two loans from Colgrove's hospital earnings and from profits he and Gnanadev agreed to split from the Redlands clinic. Colgrove said Gnanadev manipulated revenue and expense reports to make it seem as though Colgrove had made no progress in paying off the loans after two years of work.
Colgrove testified that when he hired an accountant in 2002 to confirm his suspicions, Gnanadev angrily fired him without giving him 60 days' notice. After he was fired, Colgrove said, he took over the Redlands clinic even though it was still in Gnanadev's name.
"I felt he betrayed me," Colgrove testified during the trial.
Gnanadev conceded that he loaned Colgrove $80,000 to buy a house but insisted that he did not loan Colgrove the $50,000 to launch the Redlands clinic. Instead, he said, he used the $50,000 to buy the clinic and simply assigned Colgrove to work there. Gnanadev said he never intended to turn the clinic over to Colgrove. After two days of deliberations, the jury declared that Gnanadev owes Colgrove $25,000 for firing Colgrove without the 60 days' notice.
