Garth Brooks Awarded $1 million in Lawsuit Against Hospital
Garth Brooks was awarded $1 million after a jury found an Oklahoma hospital was in breach of its contract.
Troyal Garth Brooks, who has played an integral role in country music's global success, will receive his $500,000 donation to Integris Canadian Valley Regional Hospital and $500,000 in punitive damages, according to CBS News.
As the Christian Post previously reported, 49-year-old Brooks had filed a lawsuit alleging that he was promised a building would be named after his late mother, Colleen Brooks, who died in 1999.
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Brooks claims that the hospital agreed to the deal in exchange for a $500,000 donation, even going as far as showing Brooks mock designs of a building displaying Colleen's name.
Although Brooks handed over the $500,000, his late mother's name was never displayed on any of the Yukon hospital's buildings.
"We wanted to show them not to do that anymore to anyone else," one jury member told the Associated Press.
According to sources jurors wanted to make an official statement by awarding Brooks more than his $500,000 donation for failing to deliver on its promise.
Lawyers for the hospital had countered that Brooks had simply given them the donation and made the building name request at a later date and insists that the two were unrelated.
Hardy Watkins, who is vice president of marketing and communications for the hospital company, Integris Health, described the jurors' ruling as "surprising and disturbing."
"Obviously we are disappointed, particularly with the jury's decision to award damages above and beyond the $500,000," Watkins said. "We're just glad to see the case come to a resolution," Watkins added.
The weeklong trial left Brooks feeling relieved, and he went on to call the jurors "heroes" after the ruling. "I no longer feel like I'm crazy," Brooks told AP. Brooks lawyer, John Hickey, has been commended for his court room delivery during his closing arguments to the jurors.
"This case is about promises: promises made and promises broken," Hickey told jurors before they began deliberating.
"Mr. Brooks kept his promise. Integris never intended to keep their promise and never built a new women's center," he added.
