Ector County Hospital District Board member Wallace Dunn has filed a defamation lawsuit against Matt Coday, president of the Oil & Gas Workers Association.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Ector County District Court, Coday has been attacking Dunn on social media since February 2022 and falsely accusing him of violating HIPAA laws since August 2022.
Dunn claims in the lawsuit that Coday appointed him to the OGWA board in September 2021 and began attacking him because he repeatedly asked Coday to hold regular meetings and to provide him with financial records and past meeting minutes.
According to the lawsuit, he resigned because he began to suspect Coday was trying to cover up unethical or illegal conduct, “including Coday’s use of donor and member dollars as his own personal slush fund.”
Dunn’s attorneys describe Dunn as a “highly respected and influential individual within Odessa” and Coday as “an admitted alcoholic, drug addict” who has had “numerous criminal convictions for intoxication, writing bad checks and theft.”
The lawsuit includes a list of instances in which Coday posted negative things about Dunn on social media, including allegations that several members of the Odessa community had filed complaints with the Office of Civil Rights for disclosing private identifying information about a patient and made derogatory comments about the woman and her family.
Dunn’s attorneys allege Coday was the only one who filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights and on August 18, 2023, the OCR informed Medical Center Hospital CEO Russell Tippin that after a “thorough and detailed review” it was closing the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, Dunn filed a public records request with the OCR and discovered the agency had actually changed the name of the accused party to MCH.
Dunn’s attorneys allege Coday was aware of the change, knew the investigation was closed and yet continued to say Dunn was under investigation.
In January, Coday created a GiveSendGo account seeking legal fees because he claimed a false report was filed about him with the Odessa Police Department, the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit alleges that in May Coday again posted on his GiveSendGo page that Dunn was under investigation for violating a patient’s HIPAA rights and he continued to make the same allegations as recently as July on Facebook.
Coday was given the opportunity, through Dunn’s attorneys, to retract his statements, but he declined, the lawsuit stated.
Dunn is seeking damages that exceed $250,000.
According to Odessa Police Department records obtained by the Odessa American under the Texas Public Information Act, former Ector County Republican Chairwoman Tisha Crow, City Councilwoman Denise Swanner and Dunn filed a report with the police department in November 2022 accusing Coday of harassing them at council meetings and on social media.
Crow told police she saw a Ford F-250 in front of her residence on Nov. 15, 2022, and when she ran the license plate using her insurance company computer, it came back to Coday. Crow and her husband Kris own a Farmer’s Insurance branch.
Police determined no crimes had been committed by Coday.
Then last December, an unknown person texted OPD Police Chief Michael Gerke asking for someone to investigate a man for “walking around in and out of houses” in the Crows’ neighborhood and supplied the chief with Coday’s license plate number. Coday says he was in Andrews at the time and again, police determined Coday had committed no crimes.
On March 21, the AG ordered the city to release the name of the texter and it turned out to be Mayor Javier Joven, a political ally of Swanner, and, at that time, of the Crows.
On Wednesday, Coday released the following statement in response to the lawsuit:
“In addition to Wallace Dunn violating a Medical Center Hospital patient’s HIPAA rights, Wallace Dunn, Denise Swanner, and Tisha Crow all lied to the Odessa Police Department in the report made in November 2022 that the OA uncovered after the false report made on December 18, 2023 involving Mayor Javier Joven.
“I have photographic evidence and digital records that prove Wallace Dunn, Denise Swanner, and Tisha Crow lied to the police. It’s unfortunate Ector County Hospital District Board President Wallace Dunn placed himself and Medical Center Hospital in this position, and I look forward to exposing Wallace Dunn’s lies on a very large stage.”
