Interesting Press-Telegram piece over the weekend. Apparently Catholic Healthcare West, the parent corporation of St. Mary Medical Center, has three separate breach-of-contract lawsuits going against the City of Long Beach.

Only except the folks who run the hospital told the P-T’s Wendy Thomas Russell that they didn’t give the go-ahead for any lawsuit–and those same folks also said that CHW officials were similarly unaware of the lawsuits.

Thomas Russell also reports that the law firm behind the lawsuits, Stephenson, Acquisto & Colman of Burbank–which she describes at one point as a “collections firm”–sued the city last year on behalf of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.

According to Thomas Russell, Memorial officials dismissed that suit, “saying their collections law firm had taken legal action without the proper authority.”

The underlying legal questions then and now are the same: should the city reimburse the hospital for paying a prisoner–and what exactly is a prisoner? That’s why the hospital wants money–or not.

It’s also worth considering that, as Thomas Russell reports, the law firm reportedly representing St. Mary filed an unauthorized lawsuit on behalf of another hospital in 2003.

And on a side note, they’re from Burbank–same place as the labor negotiators representing Long Beach Yacht Club in contract talks with its employees.

What is it with you people and Burbank? Is it the whole Skunk Works thing? What?

Tags: Acquisto & Colman, Burbank, California, Catholic Healthcare West, City of Long Beach, Long Beach, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Long Beach Yacht Club, press telegram, Skunk Works, Southern California, St. Mary Medical Center, Stephenson, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, unauthorized lawsuit, Wendy Thomas Russell