A $21,000-per-month Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) manager is suing the US consultancy firm who hired him for more than $700,000, claiming he was fired without justification.

Russell Gardner, from Ohio, was employed by Kurron Shares of America as chief of business development at BHB, but they terminated him after less than ten months.

According to Mr . Gardner, the company acted in bad faith and breached his three-year contract. He's claiming compensation for lost wages and benefits.

The company claims it fired him with justification after he e-mailed a letter to BHB chief executive David Hill requesting additional finance staff, without his manager reviewing the letter first.

The case is due to go to trial at the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio next June.

According to court documents, Kurron offers management and consulting services to hospitals and hospital boards. It is incorporated in Maryland, and its principle place of business is New York, although it also has an office in Ohio.

The company has an $11 million, five-year contract to oversee key projects at BHB including the redevelopment of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Gardner's complaint states he signed a three-year full-time contract with Kurron beginning June 30, 2008, to work as chief of strategic planning and business development at BHB.

He says his contract initially employed him full-time on a monthly salary of $18,750 plus $6,000 housing allowance, health insurance and eligibility for an annual 20 percent bonus.

Mr Gardner says he quit his job with an organisational management group in Ohio, to move to Bermuda with his family and take on the job.

His salary was raised to $20,833 per month during the first year of his contract, and he was given additional responsibilities. He states that he had "dual reporting lines" to Kurron chief operating officer Devin Price and Mr Hill.

His employment was terminated by Kurron on April 22, 2009, which, according to Mr Gardner was done "summarily and without justification." He also claims the company acted in bad faith by refusing to provide him with his salary and benefits relating to the unexpired term of his contract.

He adds that he's been unable to locate suitable work elsewhere as a result of what happened.

Mr Gardner is claiming $541,658 in lost wages and $156,000 in lost housing benefit. He also wants "additional compensatory damages in an amount exceeding $25,000, but to be proved at trial," plus legal fees and interest.

In its counterclaim, Kurron denies breach of contract and says Mr Gardner's employment was terminated "based upon just cause".

It states that his direct supervisor was Mr Price at Kurron, but that he would report to Mr Hill at BHB while on-site in Bermuda.

According to Kurron, Mr. Price instructed him in April 2009 to draft a letter to Mr. Hill requesting additional finance staff at BHB. Kurron says he was "specifically instructed to submit the draft letter to Mr Price to review before sending it to Mr Hill".

Instead, it says, Mr Gardner "prepared a letter and sent the letter to Devin Price and knowingly sent it simultaneously to the client via electronic mail in direct violation of Mr. Price's specific directive".

According to the company, Mr. Price and Kurron chairman Corbett Price informed him of the "potential detrimental business consequences of his conduct" but he said he would do the same thing again.

The company denies Mr. Gardner's contract was for a fixed three-year term of employment, and says he could be terminated with or without cause at any time.

It insists it acted in good faith, and is asking for judgement against Mr. Gardner, plus costs and damages in excess of $75,000 to be determined at trial.

The Magistrate Judge in the case, Mark Abel, has requested the assistance of the Bermuda Supreme Court in compelling the production of evidence including e-mails between Mr Gardner and Mr Hill, and between Mr. Hill and Kurron executives.

The Kurron contract prompted criticism from Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson when it was announced by Government in 2007. Mrs. Jackson claimed that company chairman Corbett Price was a close friend of then-Premier Ewart Brown.

She claimed the contract should have gone to the world-renowned Johns Hopkins medical institute, and not the "minor league" Kurron. She also asserted that the BHB recommended Johns Hopkins — although Mr. Hill refused to confirm or deny that.