TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Union Sues To Block Manor Care Buyout

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: December 23, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - A union that represents some nursing home employees asked a judge on Friday to block the takeover of Florida homes by a private-equity firm.

The firm, the Carlyle Group, completed a $6.3 billion buyout of nursing home chain Manor Care earlier in the day.

SEIU Healthcare Florida, a division of the Service Employees International Union, has been fighting the takeover, and filed a lawsuit Friday in Leon County Circuit Court asking the court to block the company's ownership of 29 homes in Florida with 3,700 residents, said Jeff Garcia, a spokesman for the union.

Don Berger, the son of a resident at a Manor Care home in Tamarac, also was listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

It deals with aspects of Carlyle Group's application before state regulators to run the homes, which the plaintiffs allege doesn't include all the required information.

"I am concerned that the Carlyle Group will be granted a license with an incomplete application and I want to make sure Carlyle's takeover won't harm my mother's care," Berger said in a statement released by the union.

Rick Rump, a spokesman for Manor Care, said the buyout was complete, and the homes, including those in Florida, were already owned by Carlyle. The company has said, however, that management at the homes won't change.
Rump said the company's lawyers would address the lawsuit.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT