By AP
Claremore, OK – Brooks chokes up testifying about hospital gift
CLAREMORE, Okla. (AP) Country singer Garth Brooks has given a tearful account to an Oklahoma jury of his failed efforts to honor his late mother by getting a women's health center named after her.
Brooks choked up Friday while testifying in his lawsuit against Integris (in-TEHG-rihs) Canadian Valley Regional Hospital. He is seeking the return of $500,000 he gave the hospital and punitive damages.
Brooks says he donated the money to the hospital in his hometown of Yukon thinking he had a deal with its president, James Moore, to name a planned women's center after his late mother, Colleen. But the women's center was never built. Moore says there was never such an agreement.
Brooks' accountant testified earlier Friday that she didn't know of any conditions tied to the donation.