June 18, 2009

Wow!

And I don't mean that lightly.

Obviously, they'll appeal, because that's what lawyers do to make more money from their client. But for those who've watched this ridiculous egocircus play out, and for those who were damaged by it, it's still refreshing to see this result.

I bet someone's kicking himself now that they didn't request a jury trial so they could parade around with pancakes and preachers and stuff.

A nice turn of phrase from the judge's opinion: “The innocent, continuing shareholders of HealthSough do not have “unclean hands,” and Scrushy, who does, cannot use them to strum the harp of equity.”

Heh.

(Although, I do sort of wish he'd have said 'guitar,' given the defendant's stellar country music career.)

Posted by Terry Oglesby at June 18, 2009 10:52 AM
Comments

Nice to see justice being done. Though it really won't be complete until the last restitution check is cashed.

This blogging thing is getting to be a habit with you.

Posted by: Diane at June 18, 2009 11:42 AM

I have a feeling this may be something like the OJ civil verdict--getting $3B out of this fellow won't be easy.

Blogging? I don't blog anymore.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at June 18, 2009 12:48 PM

I'm currently reading "The Informant" by Kurt Eichenwald. It details the Grisham-like case against Archer Daniels Midland ("Supermarket To The World") for price fixing and criminal stupidity. If there's anything I've learned 75 pages into it, is that the big cheeses know everything and they know it fairly early on.

Scrushy is either the shrewdest or luckiest defendant since Lizzie Borden.

Posted by: vachon at June 18, 2009 04:28 PM

In the end, though, it catches up with you.

My own personal take on this idea that he didn't know anything?

I have a couple of pairs of thick cotton gym shorts and some golf shirts with the HealthSouth name and logo on them that I got from a friend who used to work in the department that dealt with corporate merchandise. They look just fine, but were angrily rejected (along with the rest of the shipment from the supplier) by the CEO (convicted executive officer) himself, for having a tiny flaw in the logo embroidery that was not evident to anyone else.

Anyone who displays that depth of concern about something as simple as the stitching on a pair of shorts knows very well about the bigger things going on in his little kingdom.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at June 18, 2009 05:01 PM

I hadn't heard that story. I was told that he chose the artwork for the HS corporate building on 280 himself. And yet, he didn't know ANYTHING about what was going on in the accounting department!!! Having attended a few receptions in the day at that building, I can say firsthand that the artwork he chose was absolutely hideous.

Posted by: megabeth at June 19, 2009 09:12 AM

Must be a CEO thing - the head honcho at McGraw-Hill where I used to be also picked out his own wall decorations.

I was always glad to know he had his eye on the important stuff

Posted by: skinnydan at June 19, 2009 09:52 AM

Megabeth, I think everyone who ever worked there has a similar story of his penchant for nanomanagement.

And if these guys would limit themselves to tacky artwork, it would be helpful.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at June 22, 2009 08:40 AM

[after some encouragement, I'll try to post again after no success last week]

You don't get to be in that position of leadership unless you have an excellent retention of details, ability to discern the important information and utilize it effectively. Otherwise you get chewed up and spat out.
(No, I'm not bitter ...)
Yet - you also need to recognize the talents of others, delegate and then trust them to achieve.

I saw a possum the other morning on my "health walk", and thought of another Possum. Are you getting more time to to blog? With the way B. Hussein Obama is leading us, we need another Axis to form. Axis of Debtors? Broken (Bankrupt) Axle? I do miss the old bloggin' days, and I know it wouldn't be the same, but ... ya know ...

Posted by: MarcV at June 22, 2009 07:51 PM

I think he had problems with that delegation and trust thing. I think he thought everyone else was as crooked as him.

As for blogging time, sadly, no. I am still hamstrung by having not enough time to organize my thoughts. We possums with our walnut-sized brains need to be able to get into a groove, and I have my own bunch of micromanagers to satisfy, which precludes groove-getting-into.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at June 22, 2009 10:23 PM