HARRISBURG – A Black-owned EMS ambulance company in Western Pennsylvania has launched litigation against a host of medical professionals and health care companies, alleging it faced a conspiracy of racial discrimination on the part of the defendants.
Western Star Hospital Authority, Inc. of Monroeville filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on March 22 versus Susan McCaffrey of Seven Fields, Barbara Forsha of South Park Township, David Utter of Cranberry Township, Rogert Schollaert, Laura Baumgart, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Medcall and Myron Rickens, all of Pittsburgh, Medevac Ambulance of Ellwood City, Aaron Rhone of Carlisle, Travis Woodyard of Harrisburg, Brian Shaw of Butler and Amos Cameron of Leesdale.
“In December 2016, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs awarded plaintiff Metro a contract to provide ambulance services to veterans’ hospitals in Pittsburgh. Plaintiff was the first company owned by an African-American to secure a contract for ambulances services of this magnitude with the VA for the Pittsburgh area,” the suit states.
“Because an African-American owns plaintiff, during the application process and throughout the life of the contract, defendants McCaffrey, Forsha, Schollaert, Utter, Shaw and Cameron, individually and/or in concert, acting in their individual and not official capacities, along with UPMC and Rickens and Darby of defendant UPMC’s PARC program and Heltman and Joseph of MAC, interfered with the contract and/or conspired with one another to undermine plaintiff’s contract with the VA and to deprive plaintiff of its rights under the contract, as well as its Constitutional rights.”
The suit details that over a three year-period from March 2016 to March 2019, the plaintiff allegedly had its bid contract applications denied for picayune reasons (before it was later awarded a contract by the VA); were subject to vehicle inspection failures for fabricated reasons; were subject to an arbitrary oversight committee who sought to terminate their contract for racial animus and finally did have their contract terminated, after undue scrutiny resulting from the same racial bias.
“Further, while the precise details of the conspiracy are not yet known, the conclusion is clear from the circumstances pleaded that all defendants were part of, and shared in the objectives of, an agreement to terminate plaintiff’s contract with the VA; and the facts pleaded above demonstrate that this agreement among the defendants was based upon, and motivated by, racial animus, bias and prejudice,” per the suit.
“At this stage, the conspiracy is evidenced by coordinated actions between the VA defendants, and other defendants carrying out state actions, alleged above, that would later be used by the VA defendants, acting in their individual capacities, as a false pretext to terminate the contract when the true reason was race-based animus.”
For counts of civil rights violations, intentional interference with contractual relations and civil conspiracy, the plaintiff is seeking damages of $4,200,000, plus attorneys’ fees, costs, interest, punitive damages and any other relief that this Honorable Court deems just and proper.
The plaintiff is represented by Mary F. Platt of Fineman Krekstein & Harris, in Philadelphia.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 1:21-cv-00524
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com