It’s a compromise from a lawsuit filed by Curtis Ambulance
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Village of Darien board approved a settlement of a lawsuit filed against the fire/EMS department by Curtis Ambulance Service on Sept. 20. The cost of the settlement, once approved by the Town of Darien, will be split between the two municipalities.
The lawsuit alleged the department and service entered into a service provider agreement in March of 2016 and Curtis fulfilled its obligations in the agreement. The Darien Fire/EMS Department, according to the suit, refused to pay Curtis for some of those services.
According to the breach of contract suit, the department gave notice to Curtis in February of 2019 that it did not intend to renew the agreement. That notice allowed the department to terminate the agreement effective March 31, 2019. Curtis claimed that despite no longer having a written agreement in place with the department after March 31 of that year, it continued to provide service yet the department has refused to pay for those services.
Curtis claimed the department owed a total of $21,172 with $12,435 of that amount due for services provided after March 31, 2019.
The department currently has a contract with Metro Paramedic Services.
Village Attorney Brad Lochowicz disputed some of the claims in the lawsuit.
“The village did not fail to pay for services,” he said. “The litigation involves a dispute over whether the services being claimed by Curtis to be owed by the department were provided according to the terms of the contract between Darien and Curtis.”
Lochowicz said there was a dispute between the parties as to the cost of the services provided and the settlement is the result of a compromise. He said at the Sept. 20 meeting because the agreement had not yet been agreed to by all parties, the village only approved his recommendation for a settlement of $12,500.
For more coverage from the meeting, pick up a copy of the Sept. 30 Enterprise.
