Garth Brooks suing Oklahoma hospital to get back $500k donation

Garth Brooks is suing an Oklahoma hospital to get his $500,000 donation back after the hospital refused to name a building after Brooks’ late mother.

Brooks made the six-figure donation to Canadian Valley Regional Hospital back in 2009. The country singer claims that he made the donation under the belief that at least part of the facility would be named after his mother, and when the hospital refused to do so Brooks chose to sue.

“Unfortunately, talks broke down or did not continue or Mr. Brooks was not satisfied with the options we were offering, and that’s when he decided to sue,” hospital spokesman Hardy Watkins said Tuesday before the trial began (via AP).

Brooks’ lawsuit claims that hospital officials showed the singer mock-up buildings bearing the name of his late mother, who died of cancer in 1999, and subsequently told him that his $500,000 donation was earmarked for such a project.

Watkins noted that the entirety of Brooks’ donation remains unspent in a hospital account, and that the “hospital followed all IRS guidelines governing donor giving.”

“We certainly recognize Mr. Brooks is an amazing ambassador for Oklahoma, and a very accomplished star in his own right,” he said. “We certainly wish it did not have to come to this.”

Do you think Garth Brooks was right or wrong to sue the hospital?

Source: AP

[Image credit: Getty Images]