Garth Brooks Ready To Take Stand In Hospital Lawsuit Trial

Garth Brooks could take the stand Friday in his lawsuit against Integris hospital in Yukon. The dispute is over his $500,000 donation.

He believed, in exchange, the hospital would name the women's center for his late mother, Colleen Brooks.

Brooks says he's so ready for this to be over. He says he can't believe Integris let this case get this far and he's ready to finally tell his story.

Brooks' attorney was going over emails, memos and board meeting minutes.

One email that created quite a stir was written by the Integris president during the time when the hospital was talking about giving Garth Brooks back his $500,000 donation.

It said, in part, "We may not be able to deny Garth access to his money, however, we can make him work like hell to get it back."

That certainly didn't sit well with Brooks.

"I was floored. I think they've done themselves irreparable damage," Garth Brooks said. "They just told me they're going to make it as hard as hell to get my money back. That's why we have spent more money, they have spent more money than what we're trying to get here."

The hospital says the memo needs context, that it was written at 4 a.m., and that getting this donation had taken a lot of work over a period of years.

"I think he felt the burden as president of the hospital of letting the community down," said Integris Spokesperson Hardy Watkins.

The hospital says it was always their intention to honor Brooks' mother, Colleen Brooks, but didn't have a specific agreement with Brooks on how to do that.

However, an architect for the hospital wrote in her notes, six months before Brooks gave donation, that the hospital president mentioned to her, possibly naming the women's center for Garth Brooks' mother.

The president of the hospital says they still would like to honor Colleen Brooks in some way.

"No. I want to be as far away from Integris as I can be. If they came to me today and said, ‘you can have the hospital,' I'd say thank you very much, but no thank you," Garth Brooks said.

Brooks' accountant got teary eyed when she talked about the kind of woman Colleen Brooks was and how much Garth loved her.

She says he had a bus for his parents so they could go out on the road with him and she didn't know many people who'd want their parents along like that.

1/18/2012 Related Story: President Of Yukon Hospital Takes Stand In Day 2 Of Garth Brooks' Lawsuit Trial