CLEVELAND, Ohio — MetroHealth Medical Center is suing Reliance Mechanical LLC— one of the companies implicated in Cuyahoga County’s ongoing corruption probe — over $28 million of work it did for the health system from 2003 through 2008, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The hospital claims in a lawsuit filed Monday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court that all the contracts it struck with Reliance Mechanical during that time are void, the Plain Dealer said. That’s because John Carroll, a former MetroHealth vice president admitted earlier this year to steering contracts and accepting bribes related to Reliance, the newspaper said.
According to the lawsuit, Reliance has begun arbitration proceedings against MetroHealth to collect several million dollars in back-payments, the Plain Dealer said. But the hospital owned and run by Cuyahoga County and considered the safety net for much of Greater Cleveland argues that a clause in its contracts gives it the right to terminate agreements if a contractor breaks the law, the paper said.
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MetroHealth is asking the court to prevent Reliance from going forward with its arbitration efforts and force the company to repay millions of dollars the hospital has paid for completed projects, the Plain Dealer said.
During the five years ending in mid-2008, MetroHealth hired Reliance to make up to $28 million-worth of heating and plumbing improvements to help the hospital become more energy efficient, lowering its utility bills, according to the newspaper.
Soon after federal investigators launched their corruption probe last summer, MetroHealth fired Carroll from his job as vice president of facilities and construction, the Plain Dealer said. In early September, Carroll pleaded guilty to taking construction-related bribes that cost the health system more than half a million dollars. He could face up to 14 years in prison.