Health

JFL Moves to Void $6.36 Million Equipment Judgment, Says Michigan Court Had No Jurisdiction

ST. CROIX — The Virgin Islands Government Hospitals and Health Facilities Corporation has asked a federal judge on St. Croix to throw out the $6.36 million judgment entered against it and the Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital and Medical Center, arguing that the Michigan court responsible for the ruling lacked both personal jurisdiction over the corporation and the legal authority to hear the case. In an 18-page motion filed Thursday, November 5, the hospital corporation contends that the September 22 default judgment is legally void because the creditors failed to properly serve the lawsuit and because the corporation is an arm of the Government of the Virgin Islands, rather than an independent entity subject to federal diversity jurisdiction. The motion, filed by corporation legal counsel Julie A. Beberman under Rule 60(b)(4) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, asks Chief Judge Robert Molloy of the District Court of the Virgin Islands to set aside the Michigan judgment and deny t...