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Ex-Erickson executive sues, claiming breach of contract Erickson Air-Crane's former chief financial officer is suing for more than $800,000, claiming the Central Point helicopter company breached his employment contract. Larry Sabala, who served as chief financial officer for just over a year, claims the company broke the contract by replacing him without paying his base salary for the three years of the employment agreement. He also claims that the company negligently isolated him in the workplace, aggravating a severe heart condition. The suit, filed Monday in Jackson County Court, seeks $275,000 in unpaid wages and $525,000 in damages related to aggravation of his heart condition. Sabala could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and his attorney, Bill Fowler, declined to comment. Erickson officials also declined comment. According to the suit, Sabala entered a three-year agreement to serve as chief financial officer in February 1997. The contract called for him to be paid $110,000 per year, a figure that was upped to $150,000 a year in August 1997. In March 1998, the company appointed another chief financial officer, which the suit claims is a breach of contract. A month later, Sabala ended his employment -- a right he claims to have under the contract -- because the company did not rectify the situation. The suit claims that Sabala is owed the balance of his salary under the contract. The negligence portion of the suit alleges that the company schemed to exclude Sabala from routine business communications; isolated him from office communications, information, procedures and practices; and allowed its officers and executive assistants to withhold communications and documents from him. The suit also asserts that the company knew or should have known that Sabala recently underwent open-heart surgery and that its efforts to isolate him caused "anxiety and episodic periods of depression and rejection." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA