Firm News
Firm Advises Victory Health Services In Arbitration Win Over Provena Health
January 22, 2004
CHICAGO – Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman is pleased to have served as legal counsel to Victory Health Services in its arbitration win over Provena Health. An arbitrator announced late yesterday that Victory Health Services and Vista Health will not be required to make the lump sum payment that Provena Health demanded for the Saint Therese Medical Center assets which it is now required to transfer to Vista Health as a result of its decision to withdraw from their joint venture with Victory.
"If this decision had gone against Victory Health Services and Vista Health, the organization’s ability to move forward would have been jeopardized because it does not currently have the financial means to make this payment," said Alexander S. Vesselinovitch, lead litigator for Victory Health Services and a partner at Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman in Chicago. "This now allows Vista Health to proceed immediately with its strategic plan and achieve its patient and community healthcare goals."
Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman healthcare partner Michael R. Callahan, who serves as General Counsel to Victory Health Services, assisted in the arbitration as did Matthew J. Cannon, an associate in the Litigation Practice.
The decision allows Vista Health to pay the $34 million to Provena in accordance with a multi-year payment schedule to which the parties had originally agreed but only when there is positive net cash flow from operations.
The decision also acknowledges that Vista Health's "east-west strategy" - which is its plan to consolidate hospital operations of Saint Therese and Victory Memorial at the Victory site and to build a new facility in Lindenhurst - is essential to Vista's financial viability. The arbitrator found that a decision to require a lump sum payment now could jeopardize Vista's ability to proceed with this strategy.
As part of the decision, Provena Health is required to take all necessary steps to facilitate its withdrawal, including the transfer of Saint Therese Medical Center to Vista Health. Vista will be allowed to use the Saint Therese name for the immediate future.
Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman (www.kmzr.com) offers integrated, full-service legal capabilities through offices in the nation's largest centers of business, government and technology - New rk City; Los Angeles; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, North Carolina; Palo Alto, California; and Newark, New Jersey. The Firm’s 600 attorneys in more than 60 practice areas are business advisors and advocates for a wide range of public and private companies – fromentrepreneurial, emerging-growth and middle-market firms to global Fortune 100 corporatio- as well as government entities and non-profits.