Kent County Circuit Court

WKTV Staff

ken@wktv.org

On the latest episode of WKTV Journal: In Focus, WKTV volunteer host Keith St. Clair talked with WKTV Kent County Circuit Court Family Division Judge Kathleen A. Feeney, who took the bench in 2000 and was the first woman judge on the Kent County Circuit Court.

Judge Feeney talks about recent awards she has been given, including the Justice Marilyn Kelly Outstanding Judicial Service Award. She also talks gender equity in the legal world and new programs in the county’s family court.

Also on the episode, In Focus is Michigan State Police Trooper Martin Miller, a community outreach trooper stationed out of Rockford Post 61. Trooper Miller talked with In Focus producer and host Ken Norris about scams targeting our seniors, other common scams and how to recognize and avoid them.

The entire episode of “WKTV Journal: In Focus” airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 and on AT&T Channel 99 Government channel.

The episode will debuted on WKTV cable channels on Tuesday, July 10, and will again air on Thursday, July 12, also at 6:30 p.m., and will continue on the same days and times the week of July 16. But all interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal: In Focus are also available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.

Metro Health Hospital has announced it has come to a settlement agreement with a former employee that includes a one million dollar judgment in favor of the hospital.

In the consent judgment received and filed by the Kent County Circuit Court last month, Laura Staskiewicz agrees to the one million judgment against her and dismisses her complaint against Metro Health Hospital thus ending the countersuit filed by Metro Health against Staskiewicz.

In April of 2015 of Metro Health and President and CEO Michael Faas of illegal and unethical conduct in connection with the potential sale of Metro Health to an out-of-state for-profit company. That sale, involving, Tennessee-based company Community Health Systems, has since fallen through.

Staskiewicz eventually voluntarily dismissed all of her allegations against the organization and Faas. In a press release, hospital officials noted that Metro Health did not pay any money to Staskiewicz to give up her claims.

Metro Health countersued Straskiewicz for damages caused by her release of confidential and misleading information about the organization. Straskiewicz agreed to the one million judgment against her to settle the case, according to the press release.

“I am pleased that the truth in these matters has been revealed,” Faas said in a released statement. “We are focused on the future and growing Metro Health. Serving patients has always been and will always be our top priority.

I would like to thank our Board, leadership team and the many employees who invested a great deal of time and energy to defend Metro against these claims. Aggressively defending ourselves was not the easy thing to do, but it certainly was the right thing to do. Our reputation in the West Michigan community is critical to our mission of improving the health and well-being of our patients,” continued Faas.

The Staskiewicz judgment is the second seven-figure judgment awarded to Metro Health against former employees in the last several years. Both million dollar judgments awarded Metro Health damages incurred in defending itself from false claims.

“This is beyond a complete and total vindication, it’s also an indication of how we will defend the integrity of Metro from frivolous, vicious and unfounded attacks,” said Doyle Hayes, chairman of the Metro Health board of directors. “We cannot tolerate baseless claims that take away focus from our mission of improving the health of our community. Senseless attacks against the organization are attacks against the entire community.”