LAWRENCE COUNTY Lawsuit filed over Hill View irks LaGrotta

The legislator calls the lawsuit a 'sick joke.'
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
ELLWOOD CITY, Pa. -- It's not often someone comes forward to say he should have been the target of a lawsuit, but that is exactly what state Rep. Frank LaGrotta is doing.
The Ellwood City Democrat, who represents the 10th Legislative District, put out a news release Tuesday contending that a lawsuit filed by Sylvan Heights Realty Partners and Americare was "filed against the wrong parties."
"If Sylvan Heights and Americare want to sue the parties responsible for stopping the sale of Hill View Manor, they ought to sue me and the Pennsylvania Department of Health," LaGrotta said.
Named in suit
Sylvan Heights and Americare filed a lawsuit in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court against the county, Commissioner Ed Fosnaught, Controller Maryann Reiter and Solicitor John Hodge. Two other county commissioners involved in negotiations of the nursing home sale, Brian Burick and Roger DeCarbo, were not named in the lawsuit.
Robert Krebs, the attorney who filed the lawsuit for Sylvan and Americare, could not be reached Wednesday for comment.
The lawsuit contends that Fosnaught, Reiter and Hodge intentionally interfered with contract negotiations, and all three are also accused of civil conspiracy.
The buyers say they have lost more than $5 million in the deal.
The county filed a lawsuit in December against Sylvan and two of its principal partners, John Hadgkiss and George Howley, to recover $140,000 the county contends was taken from private-pay patient accounts while Americare was managing the facility and Sylvan was buying it. The two companies share some of the same officers.
"Suing Maryann, Ed and John Hodge is nothing but a sick joke. It's a clever legal tactic intended to give Sylvan Heights and Americare some leverage in getting charges that may be brought against them in the future dropped," LaGrotta said.
Investigations
The Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office are investigating Hill View Manor and the proposed sale.
The facility closed earlier this year after county commissioners said they were losing too much money on the nursing home on Pa. Route 65. The number of patients started to drop after the sale was made public and continued to dwindle after talk of a sale ended.
LaGrotta said that on July 30, 2003, he personally notified the state health department about information he received from the county controller concerning money problems at the home and some of the connections of the potential buyers.
LaGrotta said his contact with the health department led to the department issuing a letter rescinding the change of ownership approval for the facility.
"The very same people whose actions are in large measure responsible for the empty building on Route 65, who left many of our senior citizens without a home, now are suing the very people who tried to protect the county," LaGrotta said. "Maryann Reiter and Ed Fosnaught fought this company's questionable activities every step of the way and, as far as I can tell, they were the only county officials who did so."
LaGrotta vowed to keep pressure on the state police investigation and said he meets with the police monthly to discuss it.