Court Tosses Lawsuit against Holy Cross Expansion

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Thomas I. McKnew dismissed a suit filed by a citizens group challenging an expansion at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center. Community Advocates for Responsible Expansion at Holy Cross objected to the city’s decision to approve the hospital’s $146 million expansion project because no environmental impact report had been conducted, though one was not legally required. The court threw CARE’s suit out, however, because the group failed to meet a filing deadline. But the court’s dismissal does not mean that the litigation process is over for Holy Cross, as CARE may re-file the lawsuit. On May 12, the hospital broke ground on its contested expansion project, scheduled to be completed in 2010.