Dr. Akram Boutros, former CEO of The MetroHealth System, has refiled a lawsuit against the hospital claiming several allegations, including breach of contract, defamation and promissory estoppel, or an unfulfilled promise that allows a plaintiff to recover damages.
MetroHealth fired Boutros in November 2022 under claims he improperly authorized $1.9 million in bonus payments to himself without the MetroHealth board of trustees' knowledge.
Boutros previously dropped the lawsuit in December 2023 due to a cancer diagnosis.
"Due to the MetroHealth Board’s persistent failure to understand their own compensation policies and legal delegations of authority, we unfortunately have been forced to refile our lawsuit," Boutros said in a statement via his legal team.
The lawsuit also hinges on new allegations by Boutros' successor, former MetroHealth CEO Airica Steed, which reveal MetroHealth may have concealed the system's authorization of Boutros' bonuses.
Last week, Steed released a statement saying she had received complaints that MetroHealth staff destroyed public records in an effort by the legal department to cover up knowledge of Boutros’ participation in the bonus program.
MetroHealth said in a statement that it does not comment on litigation, nor will it engage in negotiations through the news media. The system will file its response with the court at the appropriate time, according to a spokesperson.
A report released last week by the Ohio Auditor of State Special Investigations Unit determined Boutros is not criminally liable for taking those bonus payments. It found that Boutros’ interpretation of the ambiguous employment contract was not unreasonable, so his actions were not criminal. It also determined the MetroHealth Board of Trustees did not effectively oversee the bonuses that Boutros took.
Boutros claimed his firing was one of several retaliatory actions by the board after he alleged improper practices in the board's hiring of his replacement as CEO. He was fired before his planned retirement was scheduled to start at the end of 2022.
A Cuyahoga County judge in October dismissed a lawsuit filed by Boutros against MetroHealth in which he claimed the board of trustees had violated the state’s Open Meetings Act.
The board said the auditor's report was "clear on several key facts," including that Boutros did not share management of the bonus program with the board, and that the board never overtly authorized the bonuses.
Boutros repaid the hospital system the amount of the bonuses plus interest, totaling $2.1 million. He told the board he had self reported his actions to the Ohio Ethics Commission.
"The Board publicly condemned and vilified Dr. Boutros, attacking him as a criminal and a villain for receiving bonus payments that were allegedly unauthorized. This campaign extinguished Dr. Boutros' future employment opportunities and destroyed his reputation," Jason Bristol, Boutros' attorney, said in a news release. "We’ve made multiple requests to resolve the dispute amicably, all of which have been rebuffed by the Board.”
Negotiations remain ongoing between MetroHealth and Steed, who was terminated without cause in August after the board said it lost confidence in her ability to lead the system. She has disputed those characterizations and said she is considering legal action.
