A fired Montage employee wins nearly $10 million in a lawsuit for unlawful retaliation.

A jury in Monterey County Superior Court has awarded Jared Stiver, a former employee of the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula and parent organization Montage Health, $9.95 million in damages for unlawful termination, after jurors agreed with Stiver that CHOMP and Montage had engaged in violations of patient care regulations he reported, as well as a whistleblower protection law. Montage officials said in a statement they plan to appeal.

According to the complaint filed on Dec. 3, 2021, 17 days after he was terminated, Stiver was hired in 2007 as a supervisor at the Tyler Heart Institute at CHOMP. He claimed that during his employment, administrators retaliated against employees who reported or complained about patient care, billing practices and violations of regulations and laws. They did so, he said, through fabricating, concealing or destroying information and soliciting other employees to turn on targeted employees. He also claimed that those targeted were assigned unsafe working conditions, harassed and punished in other ways.

“Individual employees who did not follow the program but who demonstrated an honest and forthright nature were singled out for removal,” the complaint states.

After a three-week trial that concluded May 24, the jury unanimously agreed with nearly all the points raised by Stiver in the lawsuit, except in a few instances where one, two or three jurors voted “no” on individual claims – a majority vote of at least nine jurors was still a successful verdict. All 12 agreed to the damages: $4.95 million for lost compensation and $5 million for punitive damages. In their statement, Montage officials said they were “surprised, disappointed and strongly disagree” with the decision.

Stiver claimed that as far back as 2017 he reported “improprieties” in patient care and billing to management. In one case he noted an abnormally high rate of complications occurring in cardiologist procedures and instructed staff to file reports, per hospital policy. He claims he was told by a manager to “get on board” and support the status quo. The lawsuit contends a patient died after Stiver’s warnings.

Court documents also state that Stiver found issues with billing that he believes resulted in millions of dollars in expenses to the hospital; in another situation, he found patients were billed the full amount for incomplete procedures. After lodging his complaints, he said he was reassigned and saw a reduction in hours and pay, as well as verbal abuse. In October 2021, when management learned he intended to sue, they terminated him, according to Stiver.

Stiver has since been able to find alternative employment, according to his attorney, Mark O’Conner.

Montage officials said in their statement that the verdict “does not reflect or align with Community Hospital’s values and practices – putting patient care and staff well-being at the forefront of everything we do,” the statement reads. “We fully intend to appeal this decision on a number of legitimate grounds.”