Kevin Peters and Jennifer Henricks won a $22,237,500 jury verdict for Dr. Lynn Hlatky, a cancer researcher, in a breach of contract action against Steward Health Care System LLC. Dr. Hlatky signed a three year contract with Steward Health Care in 2012 in which Steward Health Care promised to support Dr. Hlatky’s research. Just over one year into the contract, Steward Health Care decided to get out of bench top research and spun off Dr. Hlatky’s Center for Cancer Systems Biology into a non-profit entity. As a result of Steward Health Care’s withdrawal of support, the non-profit filed for bankruptcy protection, and the lab assets were sold and destroyed.
After a two and a half week trial, a Suffolk Superior Court jury awarded Dr. Hlatky $22,237,500 in damages for Steward Health Care’s breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
Read about it here in the Boston Globe online.
Read about it here in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly online.