Ambulance Service, County Moving Toward Settlement

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Published on July 25 2016 9:08 am
Last Updated on July 25 2016 9:08 am
Written by Greg Sapp

Altamont Ambulance Service and the Effingham County Board may be moving closer to a settlement of their lawsuit.

The case was to go to trial August 8, but a notation in the record Friday indicated that all pending court dates have been vacated.

Altamont Ambulance is suing the County, saying the County breached their contract with the ambulance service by amending the ambulance ordinance to allow other ambulance companies to handle non-emergency transfers in the county.

For their part, the County Board alleges that Altamont Ambulance has committed a series of violations of the contract. The County filed a counterclaim on behalf of the County Board alleging breach of contract by Altamont Ambulance.

Attorney Chris Koester, who is handling the County's case, said this morning that the parties' court-ordered mediation last month led to progress toward resolving the case by way of settlement. Koester said he couldn't comment on the proposed settlement terms except to say that "any proposed settlement would require that only first-rate emergency services be provided to the residents of Effingham County."

The attorneys for both parties are to report to Judge Allan Lolie this Friday at 3pm in a telephone conference call regarding the status of any proposed settlement and future handling of the litigation.