Cardinal Innovations to pay ousted CEO $500,000 over defamatory statements, lawyer says
Richard Topping, the ousted CEO of health care agency Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions, will receive $500,000 from his former company for false and defamatory statements Cardinal made against him, his lawyers said Wednesday,
Cardinal was North Carolina’s largest LME/MCO, an organization that manages a treatment network for people with disabilities, mental health needs and substance abuse.
The agency, which operated in Mecklenburg and 19 other counties, is now part of Asheville-based Vaya Health.
Topping sued his former agency in 2018 for libel and slander, claiming he was scapegoated in an effort to recoup his $1.7 million in severance, The Charlotte Observer reported at the time.
His lawsuit was the latest chapter in a yearlong drama involving Cardinal and its management. The situation included a state auditor’s report criticizing Cardinal for spending on Topping’s pay as well as on lavish Christmas parties, board retreats and charter flights, the Observer reported. In November 2017, state health officials took over the agency and fired its board.
On Dec. 1, Mecklenburg County switched to Alliance Health for services for vulnerable residents. County administrators said Cardinal failed to provide adequate or timely access to services for some of Mecklenburg’s neediest residents, which includes individuals with developmental disabilities and substance abuse problems.
Cardinal will pay Topping the half-million dollars for statements made by officials from the agency and its law firm, McGuireWoods, at a 2018 press conference, according to civil rights lawyer David Rudolf, who represents Topping in the case.
“The Cardinal Innovations Board has accepted responsibility for the misconduct of its former employees,” Rudolf said in a statement Wednesday. “We continue to believe that those employees misled not only regulators and the public, but also the Cardinal Board itself.”
Cardinal Innovations also has dismissed its lawsuit against Topping, Rudolf said.
Topping’s lawsuit against McGuireWoods and a former partner in the firm, Kurt Meyers, is expected to go to trial later this year, according to Rudolf.
Vaya Health won’t comment “on events, news, or former employees related to Cardinal Innovations Healthcare that were prior to our merger, including the settlement between Cardinal and its former CEO,” a Vaya Health spokeswoman said in an email to the Observer on Thursday. “Vaya was not involved in the litigation or the settlement.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 6:55 PM.