EASLEY — After being accused of abandoning the patients at her Easley office, a jury has decided Dr. Lynda McKinnon should be awarded monetary damages from another physician who made that accusation.

McKinnon sued Dr. Wajdi Dbouk for breach of contract and malicious prosecution.

Thursday, a Pickens County jury awarded her $37,000 for breach of contract. They awarded her $75,000 in actual damages for the malicious prosecution claim and $75,000 in punitive damages.

Following the verdict, McKinnon told WYFF reporters that for two and a half years, she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Today I could actually go out the door and hold my head up high,” she said.

Dbouk said in a written statement, however, that he felt the jury’s decision vindicated him.

“The jury rejected most of Dr. McKinnon’s claims and awarded her significantly less than she was seeking in her lawsuit,” he said.

The lawsuit came after the office where McKinnon practiced suddenly closed in May 2007.

McKinnon sold the practice to Dbouk in August 2006. However, she continued to work at the practice.

She contends that Dbouk announced that he was going to shut down the practice on a Friday while she was not at work.

Afterward, she said she was falsely accused of abandoning her patients.

Dbouk filed a claim with the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, who later dismissed the claim.

McKinnon went to work for Doctor’s Care in Easley in June 2007.