Inspiration for Ruthie's Law forgotten by investor of nursing home where she died
But not everyone remembers her name.
A
"Are you familiar with a woman named
"No, I'm not," Landa replied, according to a transcript of the hearing.
"Was there a patient at Emerald South who was beaten and died as a result of an interaction with another patient at Emerald South?" she was asked.
"Yes, there was," Landa replied.
"And was that a woman?"
"I think so," Landa replied during the
The questioning happened as part of Landa's slander and libel suit against
In her lawsuit, Landa described how Poloncarz referred to her and her husband, owner of the real estate where the Emerald North and Emerald South facilities were located, as "treating residents horribly" and "putting the public at risk." Landa said Poloncarz was "malicious" and "motivated by spite, and ill will" toward her. She said his tweets and comments at an
At the hearing, Landa also failed to remember the name of
"Are you familiar with a gentleman named
"I don't know," replied Landa, whose lawsuit describes her as a grandmother and "passive investor."
"Are you aware of a situation where a patient at Emerald South fell out or climbed out of his window and then subsequently died as a result of that?" Cummings asked.
"Yes, I am," Landa said. "The names, I don't know."
Ruthie's Law, signed into law by Poloncarz in
Cummings has asked
For Poloncarz's statements to be defamatory, they had to be false, Cumming said in court papers filed
"The undisputed documentary evidence and admissions by
The transcript from Poloncarz's news conference shows the county executive qualified his comments that he believed that action was needed by the
"As such, the comments are pure opinion and not actionable defamation," Cummings said in his court papers.
Last week,
Morrissy called the defense's argument an "attempt to divert the court's attention from the truth by asserting baseless, conclusory, and false statements of fact -- the same brazen behavior that led to this lawsuit."
The defense "admits that some of his defamatory statements were based on allegations from a
At the October hearing, Landa acknowledged she never stepped foot in either the Emerald South or
When her partnership bought the facilities in 2013, Landa ceded control of both to her partner, Barry Jerimias, who oversaw the day-to-day operations, according to her lawsuit. Within the first year of the purchase, however, Jerimias abandoned the partnership, leaving Landa with the responsibility of managing them, according to her lawsuit.
"I was a passive operator, but I hired the right people," Landa said.
Landa hired the
According to the lawsuit, Landa and her husband separately invested or forewent the collection of about
"We put in a lot of money to make sure that the patients get good care," she said at the hearing.
"And then when that didn't work,
Despite her best efforts, "she concluded that
The state had fined Emerald South
After Poloncarz learned of Landa's negotiations to sell
Poloncarz's "defamatory campaign" against her and the media coverage he orchestrated hurt her ability to sell the nursing homes, and she was forced to try and sell the facilities for markedly less than a price she had previously negotiated, according to her lawsuit.
"I was in the midst of selling the nursing home to
Landa said she was going to sell both nursing homes to Strauss for about
"We sold it for three and a half million," she said at the hearing. "So we lost a lot of money."
That's approximately
___
(c)2020 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.)
Visit The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.) at www.buffalonews.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Axine Signs Multimillion-Dollar Wastewater Service Agreement with a Global Pharmaceutical Company
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News