Anonymous
Source: Anticouni & Associates
Plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the Santa Barbara Surgery Center (SBSC) claiming wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation and age discrimination have retracted these and all other claims in full. Their lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice for lack of evidence on January 10, 2019. (Laura Dahlin, Annette Eddy v. Santa Barbara Surgery Center, Case No. 17CV05251, Santa Barbara County Superior Court, Nov. 20, 2017).
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are former SBSC employees Laura Dahlin and Annette Eddy, represented by attorney Bruce Anticouni of Anticouni & Associates in Santa Barbara. “Sometimes the alleged wrongs asserted against an employer turn out to be not correct,” says Anticouni. “The facts made clear that SBSC did not engage in unlawful or improper conduct. SBSC is an excellently run facility.”
Ms. Dahlin and Ms. Eddy issued a joint statement: “We are sorry for any negative publicity or harm caused to SBSC by our claims, which we fully retract. We realize that lawsuits have two sides, and what we thought we saw was incorrect. We have personally been treated by the physicians at SBSC, and we have nothing but respect for its Medical Director Dr. Anderson, and all of the doctors and staff at SBSC. We would not hesitate to be treated at SBSC in the future.”
“We appreciate that the individuals who filed the lawsuit have decided to retract their claims,” says A. Barry Cappello of Cappello & Noël LLP who represents SBSC along with Michael Hood of Jackson Lewis P.C. “The center passed an accreditation inspection by the Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) the same week the lawsuit was filed. Since the filing of the lawsuit, SBSC has undergone two highly successful inspections by AAAHC and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services/California Department of Public Health. The accusations were a shock to SBSC since providing excellent quality care to its patients is always its number one priority.”
Released with the concurrence of Laura Dahlin and Annette Eddy, the plaintiffs in the case.
Past Articles
November 21, 2017: Whistleblower Retaliation Lawsuit Filed Against Santa Barbara Surgical Center
Barry Cappello looks like a total wiener, but he must be pretty darned frightening in a courtroom. Those poor ladies did everything but flop on their backs in surrender. Doesn’t say much for their attorney though to let it get this far.
The plaintiffs must have been paid handsomely by SBSC to write a retraction like that!
There was, no doubt, some serious money transaction(s) that took place… I am positive that the attorneys made out like bandits~
Coastwatch – not necessarily at all. This was a dismissal, not a settlement. Cases get dismissed (dropped) all the time for lack of evidence, but they don’t always make a public announcement about it. Not everything is a conspiracy to make lawyers rich.
Or, just possibly, they were truly innocent.
Reputations are fragile, and allegations remain hurtful even if retracted. If you empty a bag of feathers on the sidewalk, you never pick up (get back) all the feathers. Which ever party was right or wrong or if it was a simple misunderstanding, the Surgery Center’s reputation is tarnished in the public mind.
They are guilty of taking most of the Trader Joe’s parking lot.