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WHAT’S UP WESTSIDE ..................PAGE 2 POLICE RECEIVE $300,000 ........PAGE 3 CURIOUS CITY ................................PAGE 4 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ............PAGE 5 MYSTERY PHOTO ............................PAGE 9
WEDNESDAY
11.18.15 Volume 15 Issue 5
@smdailypress
Santa Monica Daily Press
Selective sourcing
City settles lawsuit over ambulance services
Local cooks can benefit from Santa Monica’s year-round markets BY MATTHEW HALL
BY JEFFREY I. GOODMAN Daily Press Staff Writer
The City of Santa Monica has agreed to shell out $250,000 to settle a lawsuit stemming from complaints about services provided by its former ambulance contractor. The lawsuit, filed in 2011 in the U.S. District Court’s Central District of California, alleged that the City and Gerber Ambulance Service billed for services beyond what patients actually needed. Specifically, the suit alleged that
the agencies billed Medicare for advanced, life support-level ambulance services for all 911 pre-hospital emergency medical transports “regardless of whether the beneficiary’s medical condition required that level of service,” according to a settlement agreement signed last month. More than $144,000 was due to the U.S. government and more than $105,000 was payable to four plaintiffs and their lawyers, according to the agreement. The plaintiffs - Mark Baird, Justin Frith, Rick
Jerome Larson and David Moran were set to receive $10,000 each. The City and Gerber Ambulance deny the allegations brought forth in the suit and admit no wrongdoing in settling with the plaintiffs and their attorneys at San Francisco firm Hersh and Hersh. The payments “are not to be construed as an admission of any act, omission, liability or damages,” the agreement reads. In a statement, spokeswoman SEE AMBULANCE PAGE 7
HOLIDAY GIFTS Matthew Hall editor@smdp.com
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EDITORS NOTE: Leading up to Thanksgiving, The Santa Monica Daily Press has complied as series of seasonal recipes from several local restaurants. The following features Jodi Low from The Santa Monica Farmers Market.
Food is a huge part of the holiday experience and the Santa Monica Farmers Market has earned a reputation among foodsavvy shoppers as the best source for whatever your holiday table
requires. Jodi Low, market coordinator for the Sunday Main Street Market said her go-to holiday dish is a broccoli casserole that benefits from the abundance and diversity of goods available at the market. “It’s a hearty recipe which is what I want when the weather turns cold. It has the texture of the broccoli, it’s creamy, it has bite from some lemon, you can top it with some crispy bacon, and everything about it is just wonderSEE FOOD PAGE 3
The Salvation Army set 110 local kids loose in Sears on Nov. 17 with $100 gift cards to select winter-time necessities. Volunteers acted as shopping chaperones to escort the children through the closed to the public store to select the items.
Gary Limjap (310) 586-0339 In today’s real estate climate ...
Experience counts! garylimjap@gmail.com www.garylimjap.com
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