ORANGE : Feud Over Ambulance Service Heads to Court

A bitter dispute between the city and private companies over emergency ambulance care has landed in Superior Court.

Santa Ana-based CareLine California has filed a suit asking Judge Michael Brenner to grant an injunction preventing the city from turning over all emergency ambulance care to its Fire Department.

After weeks of debate, City Council members in August voted 4 to 1 to let the department begin its own emergency ambulance service, leaving the two private companies that serve the city with only non-emergency transportation calls.

Fire Chief David L. Rudat had argued that since his department already provided all paramedic service, taking over emergency transportation would cut response time by 42% and lower the cost of care.

Attorneys for CareLine argued that the decision, scheduled to take effect in November, violates the city’s municipal code.

That city code section is based largely on a county ordinance that requires cities to have a competitive bidding process in place for ambulance providers, the suit said.

“I think the only issue the court has to rule on at this time is whether or not [city officials] have complied with their own ordinance,” said San Francisco attorney Craig J. Cannizzo, who is representing CareLine.

“If that is their argument, then I think they are misinterpreting the city ordinance,” City Atty. Robert O. Franks said.

Although he has not yet received CareLine’s complaint, Franks reiterated the city’s argument that officials only had to go out to bid if they were contracting with private companies.

He added that he was surprised to hear about CareLine’s suit because the 4th District Court of Appeal in San Bernardino recently issued a tentative ruling that reaffirmed the right of cities to provide this type of service.

A hearing on the matter is tentatively set for Oct. 31, Cannizzo said.