An Oklahoma hospital has been ordered to pay country singer Garth Brooks $1 million after failing to build a women’s health center in honor of his late mother.

In 2005, Brooks contributed $500,000 to his hometown hospital, Integris Canadian Valley Region Hospital in Yukon, Okla., believing the money would fund a women’s health center named after his mother. Brooks’ mother Colleen Brooks died of cancer in 1999.

A jury ruled Jan. 24 in a Rogers County, Okla., courthouse that the hospital’s actions were fraudulent, intentional and with malice. For that reason, the jury awarded Brooks his $500,000 original contribution along with an additional $500,000 for punitive damages.

The award was the legal maximum, said John Hickey, Brooks’ attorney. “Mr. Brooks was relieved when this was over,” said Hickey. “It was a very emotional case for him because the gift was supposed to honor his mother.”

According to the testimony presented by Brooks’ attorney, Brooks had a telephone conversation with the hospital’s president, James Moore, in the summer of 2005. In that conversation, they discussed naming opportunities for Brooks’ mother.

“To be able to have his mother’s name on the new center was a very important thing as this was the hospital where he was born,” said Hickey. “From there, he made a verbal commitment with the president (James Moore).”

Hickey said the hospital argued they had never had any conversations about the naming with him. “The jury obviously didn’t believe them,” said Hickey.

“Certainly we’re disappointed that jury chose to award money above and beyond the original donation,” said Hardy Watkins, a spokesperson for Integris Health. “We had tried to give Mr. Brooks the donation back leading up to the trial, but unfortunately we were unable to have him accept that.”

Watkins said that the hospital does not expect to cut any services or programs because of the settlement, adding the money would not come from the operations budget.

“This all started out as a very exciting opportunity,” said Watkins. “Even though we were in contact over time, it's unfortunate we were unable to be certain that we had an agreement. It is our practice to always have a standard written agreement.”

Jeffrey Tenenbaum, a nonprofit attorney at Venable LLP In Washington, D.C., said that for large contributions or major gifts, a verbal commitment is not common. “It’s highly advisable to codify any agreement in writing,” said Tenenbaum. “This case is the perfect example of why verbal commitments do not work out.”

When organizing an agreement, Tenenbaum said to be clear on the dollar amount that will be paid, whether or not the contract is enforceable and provide contingencies if the original purpose of the contribution cannot be fulfilled.

Similar to Tenenbaum’s suggestions, Terry Burton, president of Dig In Research based in Windsor, Ontario, said that his first suggestion when a donor is facilitating a major gift for both parties (organization included) is to “slow down.”

“Everyone gets so excited,” said Burton. “You have to slow down and make sure you both discuss expectations, and how the gift will work out. Don’t rush. The intangibles of the reputation for the nonprofit have the highest risk of negative fallout. In negative situations like this, no one wins.”

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