The CEO of Rennova Health is reportedly suing Tennessee Rep. John Mark Windle (D-Livingston) for $100,000, alleging Windle called him an “Irish gangster.”
This, according to several news outlets, which reported that CEO Seamus Lagen alleges Wingle is out to destroy Lagen’s personal and professional reputation.
“Seamus Lagan, who court documents identify as a citizen of Northern Ireland living in the Bahamas, alleges in the suit filed in the Middle District of Tennessee federal court that Rep. John Mark Windle, D-Livingston, attacked him through numerous ‘derogatory and false’ statements made to media outlets in the aftermath of the closure of Rennova’s Jamestown Regional Medical Center,” according to the Knoxville-based WBIR.com
The station’s website went on to say the hospital closed last month after the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services discontinued paying for Medicaid patients’ treatment because hospital staff did not comply with program standards.
“In the federal court lawsuit, Lagan said he never served as CEO of the Jamestown Regional Medical Center so ‘it cannot be said he ‘mismanaged’ the facility.’ The suit also said Lagan never personally failed to pay any state or federal taxes,” according to the station.
“The lawsuit cites an interview with a television station in which Windle called Lagan a ‘thief’ who came to Tennessee to take employees’ money and ‘cheat them.’ The suit claims Windle called for Lagan’s prosecution after he ‘cheated employees.’”
According to the Oneida-based Independent Herald, attorney Todd G. Cole of the Brentwood-based Cole Law Group filed the lawsuit.
According to the Cookeville-based HeraldCitizen.com, “Windle said Rennova CEO Lagan was an Irish national, who operated ‘somewhere in the Caribbean.’ The lawsuit complaint confirms that.”
“According to the lawsuit, Windle’s statements have harmed Lagan personally and damaged Rennova’s shareholder value,” the paper reported.
“The suit said Windle’s statements have made it harder for Lagan and Rennova to secure loans to reopen JRMC.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Seamus Lagan” by Seamus Lagan.
