A Sarasota, Florida, continuing care retirement community is suing the daughter of two former residents for Internet postings that it says slander the facility.
According to court papers filed by the facility, Bay Village, Sally K. Sunday has waged a campaign against it on the Web, accusing Bay Village of operating a "Ponzi scheme" and forcing out residents after they were "swindled out of their life's savings." The dispute is detailed in a long article in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.? ?
Bay Village says Sunday's postings have damaged its "good name, integrity and reputation."? For her part, Sunday says she is simply warning others of what she claims are the facility's deceptive practices.
Like other continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), Bay Village requires an upfront entrance fee plus a monthly payment in return for a guarantee of care for life, no matter a resident's health status.? Three years after moving to Bay Village in 2006, Sunday's parents informed facility officials that they could no longer afford their $3,000 monthly fee for a two-bedroom apartment.
Bay Village has a fund to assist residents who outlive their assets, but Sunday's parents were told that they would have to show where their savings had gone and would have to move to a smaller apartment. Sunday claims that Bay Village executive director Jack McClellan told her parents they would have to sign over their life savings to the facility, something McClellan denies.
Sunday's parents decided to leave Bay Village instead.? They received a $54,000 refund of their $198,000 entrance fee, which Bay Village claims was about $30,000 more than it was legally obligated to pay them. ?
According to the Herald-Tribune, Sunday, who lives in Oklahoma, "has written letters of complaint to Bay Village and state agencies, and vented her anger about her parents' treatment online, at consumer sites like caregiver.com and ourparents.com."? (The state investigated Sunday's claims and found no wrongdoing on the part of Bay Village.)
McClellan says the facility is willing to drop the lawsuit if Sunday will agree to stop smearing Bay Village online.? "We don't want any money," he said.
Sunday tried unsuccessfully to have the case removed to federal court. Her lawyer, Cynthia Becker of Oklahoma City, told the Herald-Tribune: "It's our belief that Bay Village is suing Ms. Sunday in an effort to silence her conveyance of what is happening and to preclude others from talking." Becker said Sunday's side of the story would come out in court.
To read the entire Herald-Tribune article, click here.
For more on continuing care retirement communities, click here.
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Source: http://www.elderlawanswers.com/Resources/Article.asp?ID=9461
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