Five hundred West Suburban Medical Center employees moved one step closer to permanent layoffs Tuesday, July 7, when a second round of settlement talks over the closed Oak Park hospital ended without resolution and the company's own lawyers asked to leave the case.

Attorneys for Resilience Healthcare, the entity that operates West Sub through CEO Manoj Prasad, filed a Motion to Withdraw as Counsel on July 7. The motion cited "fundamental disagreements between undersigned counsel and the client regarding the representation and the client's objectives in this matter," according to ABC7 News, which reported on the filing. The Cook County Court Clerk's website confirmed the motion had been filed. It did not name which client the attorneys disagreed with.

The hospital at 3 Erie Court has been closed since March and shuttered entirely to the public since June 12, when the village condemned the building after its last working elevator failed. About 500 workers received notices that a permanent mass layoff will begin August 31.

Who's fighting whom

The legal battle pits Prasad, who holds a 60% stake in Resilience Healthcare, against landlord Rathnaker Patlola of Ramco Holdings, who owns the remaining 40%. Prasad has also retained separate counsel to represent himself and Westlaw Management, a personal entity through which he has reportedly directed funds from the hospital into a private checking account.

Resilience attorney Martin Tasch flagged the split on June 25, telling Judge Patrick Stanton: "Resilience and Dr. Prasad do not have identical interests. Dr. Prasad has his own counsel."

A new attorney, Howard B. Brookins Jr. of Ottosen, DiNolfo, Hasenbalg & Castaldo in Lisle, entered an initial appearance for Resilience Healthcare on Tuesday, according to court records.

Two weeks of failed talks

Settlement negotiations appeared promising as recently as June 25, when Ramco attorney Scott Kaplan told the court the sides were "trying to work out the last remaining kinks." ABC7 reported at the time that a deal could include Prasad's exit from the hospital.

That optimism evaporated. At a June 30 hearing, Kaplan said the parties still lacked Prasad's non-negotiable positions. Judge Stanton suggested he might revisit his earlier denial of a motion to appoint a receiver to manage West Sub.

A closed-door session on July 2 also went nowhere. Prasad arrived with two attorneys and left two hours later alone, declining to comment to a Wednesday Journal reporter.

On July 7, a Wednesday Journal reporter who entered the courtroom minutes before the scheduled 1 p.m. hearing found it empty except for a backpack leaning against an attorney's chair. Half an hour later, the room remained vacant, the doors on either side of the judge's chambers closed. ABC7 reported that night that the session "ended with nothing finalized."

What's at stake

West Suburban's emergency room once served 70 to 80 patients daily, and its closure has increased pressure on Loretto and Rush hospitals, state Rep. La Shawn Ford told NBC Chicago in March. The hospital owes roughly $50 million in back taxes to the state, according to NBC Chicago reporting from the same period.

Court filings reported by the Wednesday Journal show Prasad set aside $2 million in a fund he personally controls to compensate himself for what he called a "deficient" $90,000 annual salary.

Commonwealth Edison had warned it would cut power to West Sub and the shuttered Weiss Memorial Hospital if overdue bills were not paid by July 8. Whether that payment was made remains unconfirmed.

What's next

Judge Stanton has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, July 8, at 1:30 p.m. at the Daley Center.