Woman resolves suit over Facebook healthshare page

Angela Miller, a Massillon resident, was sued in May by Daniel J. Beers II and Brandon Fabris, partners in several businesses including co-ownership of the former Massillon Affinity Hospital property, because of messages she posted in a public Facebook group she administers. The lawsuit also cited comments Miller posted on the "Massillon LIVE" Facebook page.

Beers and Fabris, both of Lawrence Township, claimed Miller's posts accused them of unethical and unlawful conduct. The pair sought unspecified damages and a Stark County Common Pleas judge's court order to stop Miller from posting defamatory social media comments about them.

Miller's lawyer, Peter Pattakos, then filed a counterclaim that argued Miller had made truthful posts on Facebook and was expressing her constitutionally protected opinions about Beers and Fabris. Miller admitted she made the statements cited by Beers and Fabris, but denied the statements were defamatory, that she wasn't allowed to make them and that Beers and Fabris were entitled to damages.

The counterclaim states: "Beers and Fabris know, and knew at the time of filing their complaint against Miller, that all of her statements they allege to be defamatory are either true, or statements of opinion that are reasonably based on true facts."

It also alleged that Beers and Fabris filed the lawsuit "with malice" and a "conscious disregard" for Miller's rights and interests with certainty of causing harm and damage to her.

The counterclaim led to discussions on a settlement and a notice of dismissal was filed last week with the court.

Pattakos, a Summit County lawyer who filed the counterclaim for Miller, said his client "is glad that the matter has been resolved."

Richard Arnold, lawyer for Beers and Fabris, said he believes all parties are satisfied with the confidential agreement that resolved the case.

Liberty Healthshares Facebook page spurs lawsuit

Miller is administrator of "Healthshare Members Uncensored," a public Facebook page that encourages healthshare members to "feel free to share your stories, join in the discussion and offer advice on what has been successful in getting your medical bills paid by your healthshare."

The concept of health sharing ministries has existed for many years. In early healthshares, members of a church community would save money and work together to help each other pay medical bills if they became sick. The concept began expanding in the 1980s, with larger healthshares forming. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, some have sought out healthshares groups as an alternative to health insurance.

Although different healthshares are discussed on Miller's page, many of the comments are geared toward Liberty HealthShare, based in Jackson Township.

Miller is a former employee. She also is a friend of former Liberty co-worker of Chelsea Tubbs, who in 2019 lost a defamation lawsuit to Liberty and Fabris. That lawsuit was based on posts Tubbs made on a Facebook page — called "Liberty Health Members: Uncensored" — that was closed down because of the case.

Tubbs initially ignored requests to shutdown the Facebook page, which led to separate lawsuits filed by Liberty HealthShare and Cost Sharing Solutions, a company co-owned by Beers and Fabris. When the cases went to court, Tubbs didn't have a lawyer. She failed to respond to the lawsuits and the court filed default judgments.

The cases involving Tubbs are cited by Pattakos.

The counterclaim contends that Beers and Fabris went to court in May because they believed they could "bully Miller into silence with a frivolous lawsuit."

The counterclaim also contends that the initial lawsuit filed by Beers and Fabris "constitutes a willful perversion of the legal system to accomplish ulterior purposes for which it was not designed."

Beers and Fabris links to Liberty

Cost Sharing Solutions, provided marketing, call center and other services for Liberty HealthShare.

Additionally, Beers and Fabris have family ties to past Liberty HealthShare executives. Drudy Abel — a former chief executive officer and chief operating officer at Liberty — is Beers' aunt, while her daughter is in a relationship with Fabris.

The family relationship was noted in some of the posts made by Miller.

There are two posts where Miller accused Fabris of perjury when he testified in the Tubbs defamation case in 2019. "He's the one that had submitted fabricated info like numbers and employee names to the court. Said his employees worked so many hours investigating Chelsea...," Miller said in a December 2021 conversation on the "Healthshare Members Uncensored" page.

Other comments by Miller cite a pending lawsuit in federal court involving Liberty HealthShare and Cost Sharing Solutions, as well as action the Ohio Attorney General's office took against the companies and their top executives.

Fabris, Beers and Cost Sharing Solutions are part of a lawsuit filed last October in U.S. District Court. That case alleges that Fabris, Beers and several others conspired with two of Liberty HealthShare's founders to funnel money to the pockets of family and friends through inflated service costs. The lawsuit also questions whether the defendants engaged in mail or wire fraud, violated federal laws regarding racketeering activities and broke the rules for nonprofit organizations to maintain their tax-exempt status.

Fabris and Beers, along with the other defendants in the lawsuit, want U.S. District Judge David A. Ruiz to dismiss the case, claiming it attempts to litigate claims that already have been resolved through settlement agreements approved last year with the Ohio Attorney General's Office.

In the settlement agreement, Fabris and Beers, as well as the leaders of other vendor companies denied violating Ohio law but agreed to pay roughly $6.5 million over five years to resolve outstanding issues, allegations and claims.

Repository staff writer Kelli Weir contributed to this report.

Reach Edd at 330-580-8484 or [email protected] On Twitter: @epritchardREP