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Stephenson: Former Grady CEO defamed my character
by Jonathan Cribbs
jonathan@dekalbchamp.com
State Rep. Pamela Stephenson claims former Grady Memorial Hospital chief Otis Story told several people Stephenson fired him because he didn’t want to have sex with her, according to court documents filed June 15.
Story, the hospital’s former CEO, told a group of people, including local lobbyist Daniel Copeland, during a round of golf that Stephenson was interested in a sexual relationship – slander that cost Stephenson’s law firm an important client, the documents allege.
“I know he said something about he could get after [her] if he wanted to,” Copeland said in a May 13 deposition. “I remember him saying that day out in the conversation, ‘I could f– the b– if I wanted to,’ something like that. I was like, man… Pam is married.”
Stephenson chairs the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority and claims that the authority fired Story in early 2008. Story was hired in May 2007, and within two months, authority members were already concerned about his leadership, Stephenson claims. They questioned his contact with the media and the state legislature, his expenses and compliance with purchasing and policy procedures. The authority fired him in January 2008, according to court documents.
Stephenson claims Story’s disparaging remarks caused a client of her law firm to fire her – a client whose yearly billings exceeded $150,000.
Story maintains Stephenson orchestrated his firing so she could inherit his job, which came with a $600,000 yearly salary. He is asking for nearly $2 million in severance pay and additional punitive damages.
Copeland claims Story repeatedly said that Stephenson was unprofessional and “out to get him,” according to the deposition.
“I just remember him saying, ‘That b– tried to destroy me,’” Copeland said.
Another section of a document details Story’s frustration over being fired at dinner.
Copeland: She took his dinner away from him the night they fired him.
Interviewer: Took his dinner away?
Copeland: They fired him and took his dinner away.
Interviewer: Could it have been they fired him at dinner?
Copeland: Fired at dinner. He didn’t get to eat the food: “‘That B– wouldn’t let me eat my own food. That lowdown B–wouldn’t let me eat the food.” I was like, “Otis, hold it down.’”
Story’s lawsuit is slated to go to trial this month.
Stephenson’s claims were filed in response to Story’s recent motion for summary judgment, a legal term that essentially means Story wanted a judge to independently rule on the lawsuit before it went to trial.
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