Garth Brooks Heads to Court in Case Against Hospital

The lawsuit launched more than two years ago by Garth Brooks against a hospital in his hometown is finally heading to trial, and according to the Tulsa World newspaper, jury selection is scheduled to begin today.

News of the suit broke in December 2009, some four years after Garth had donated $500,000 to the Integris Canadian Valley Regional Hospital in Yukon, Okla. The country superstar gave the gift as a tribute to his mother, Colleen, who died in 1999, and he claims that the hospital originally showed him plans to construct a Living Center that would bear her name.

He was later told that no such center would be built, and when the hospital refused to give back the cash, claiming Garth's donation had been "anonymous and unconditional," he took the case to court.

If nothing else, the experience of standing up in court and fighting for what he believes is right might help prepare him for that eventual career in politics he may have hinted at last month.

"We must always think of what's right and wrong, not what's Republican or Democrat," he told celebrity journalist Robin Leach. "We must think of what is right or wrong; if we don't, then I don't think that anyone is immune from that happening to their own country."