HealthSouth’s Scrushy Sues for Severance Pay

HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard Scrushy, who was cleared of orchestrating a $2.7-billion fraud at the company, sued HealthSouth for $70 million that he said he was owed in severance pay and bonuses.

The lawsuit filed in Jefferson County, Ala., says that under a 2002 employment agreement, Scrushy is entitled to the pay after being acquitted in June of accounting fraud charges, Scrushy spokesman Charlie Russell said.

Scrushy was fired from the company in March 2003 and quit the board Dec. 5, three weeks before new management planned to strip him of the post. He is fighting dozens of civil lawsuits and fraud charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission.