Business
HealthSouth responds to Scrushy
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 16, 2006
HealthSouth, in a response to a lawsuit against the company by founder Richard Scrushy, says the former CEO and chair doesn't deserve any compensation in relation to his 2003 firing. It claims in a countersuit that Scrushy is trying to "pillage" the company.
Scrushy last month filed a lawsuit against Birmingham, Ala.-based HealthSouth to recover what he says is $100 million compensation due to him upon his firing, as stated in his employment contract. HealthSouth fired Scrushy after a $2.7 billion accounting scandal came to light.
While some former company executives have been convicted on charges relating to inflating company earnings, a federal court in Birmingham acquitted Scrushy on all charges. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission has a civil lawsuit against Scrushy set to go to trial on April 2. Scrushy has denied any wrongdoing in the accounting scandal, saying he was duped by other managers.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/01/16/bibf0116.htm.