Ex-Grady CEOs file dueling lawsuits

Two former CEOs of Grady Memorial Hospital are battling in court with one accusing the other of stealing his job and the other saying she was slandered by his remarks that she was a sexually available woman.

The two CEOs served during some of Grady’s darkest days, including times when Atlanta’s only safety-net hospital was on the verge of shutting down for lack of money.

The Grady board that hired the two CEOs has since been replaced by a new Grady corporation composed of some of Atlanta’s richest and most powerful business leaders.

Pamela Stephenson replaced Otis Story as CEO in early 2008. Stephenson was head of the Grady board —- the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority —- that ousted him. Story felt slighted by the dismissal and, in a lawsuit filed against the board and Stephenson, accused her of engineering his dismissal so she could grab his $600,000-a-year job.

In court papers filed June 15, Stephenson asserted that Story slandered her by telling others that she was a sexually available woman he could have slept with.

Stephenson said in the court papers that his assertions were false and damaged her professionally. She said the statements led one of her legal clients to cancel work that had been earning her law firm $150,000 a year. She said that client told her he had heard she orchestrated Story’s dismissal because he had rejected her personal advances.

Stephenson’s rise to CEO created controversy as some advocates and public officials said it consolidated too much power with her. She is also a state legislator.

Stephenson served in the CEO post for eight months and was replaced as CEO of Grady after a national search brought in a new leader last September.

Stephenson’s court papers, filed in Fulton County Superior Court, point to a legal deposition given by lobbyist Daniel Copeland, who said he had spoken to Story.

“Not only did Mr. Copeland testify that (Story) made statements regarding Ms. Stephenson’s purported ‘crush’ on him, (Story) also made statements to Mr. Copeland about Ms. Stephenson’s sexual proclivities, i.e., that she was ‘available’ to someone other than her husband,” said the court papers.

Story’s original lawsuit against Grady and Stephenson is scheduled to come to trial next month.

Stephenson said Tuesday that she hopes the parties can come to a settlement before then. She said Story’s comments have hurt her.

“It’s painful,” Stephenson said. “It’s difficult when anyone says negative things about you.”

Story, reached by phone Tuesday, declined to comment.

Stephenson said in her legal papers that she has been faithfully married since 2001.

Also in the legal papers, Stephenson’s attorney, Robert Highsmith, points to Copeland’s deposition and says that Story depicted Stephenson as “an ‘available’ woman of easy virtue.”

In the deposition, Copeland recalled his conversation with Story as they played in the May 2008 golf tournament sponsored by 100 Black Men of DeKalb.

Copeland said in the deposition that Story never told him that Stephenson wanted to sleep with him.

“Mr. Story and I had a conversation that I felt was very rude about a friend of mine named Pam Stephenson,” Copeland said in the deposition.

Saying that it was a long time ago, Copeland said he recalled, “It came up that somebody had a crush on somebody. He had a crush on her or something like that.”

He added, “But I know he said something about he could get after her if he wanted to.”

Stephenson said she is not looking to profit financially from the slander counter suit.

She remains chairwoman of the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority, and vice chairwoman of the new Grady corporate board.