PHILADELPHIA – A nursing home management company and a home under its auspices have filed a slander and libel lawsuit against an Alabama woman, who is said to have made a Facebook post which spread false information concerning the plaintiffs during the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
Heritage Senior Living, LLC of Blue Bell and Belle Reve Senior Living of Milford filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on June 9 versus Deirdre Butler, of Birmingham, Ala.
Heritage Senior Living is in the business of developing, marketing, and managing senior housing communities in the Mid-Atlantic region, which includes, but not is not limited to the Belle Reve Senior Living Center.
Meanwhile, Belle Reve Senior Living provides a senior living community for residents in the need of personal assistance, experiencing effects of a dementia-related illnesses and memory loss, and/or in the need of long-term or short-term rehabilitation.
The plaintiffs say they are highly reputable in the area of residential senior care and have done their best to adapt to protecting the public during the coronavirus epidemic, through mandating their staff to wear facemasks while at work and provide necessary items and personal protective equipment to residents and staff of all of the facilities under the Heritage Senior Living banner.
On May 1, Butler, a Customer Service Representative at Protective Life Insurance in the State of Alabama, made the following Facebook post in which she assailed the plaintiffs.
“It has been brought to my attention that there are several patients at this facility who have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The director and manager will not provide proper PPE for the nurses’ aid, and they have not allowed patients to get out of their beds for baths and walking. Workers are being made to work without PPE equipment and then being sent home to their family, which will cause the virus to spread to their family members,” the post read.
“The manager on duty is named Patricia Martin. It has been reported that she only comes there to pass out beverages, but does not go into to see patients. She has not provided adequate information to the children of these patients on the conditions of their parents. I have reported her behavior and that of Michael Perlock to the state authorities. If you have loved ones there in this facility, please inquire on the welfare of your parents, grandparents, husbands or wives, please!”
The complaint addressed the post and its consequences.
“Defendant’s illegal, defamatory, inappropriate, and irresponsible post on Facebook has forced plaintiff to take down its comments page from Facebook as it was false, defamatory, derogatory and misleading as well as intentionally spreading misinformation relating to COVID-19 and the positive and supportive activities of the Plaintiffs,” the suit states.
“Defendant made false and defamatory statements regarding the quality and nature of Belle Reve’s response in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and as a result harmed the reputation of the Heritage Communities by posting these unfounded and false assertions on Facebook.”
For counts of slander and slander per se, libel and libel per se, commercial disparagement, tortious interference with business relations and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage, the plaintiffs are seeking compensatory, consequential, special and punitive damages in an amount in excess of $75,000, plus interest, costs of suit, removal of the Facebook post and any other relief as the Court may deem proper, in an amount which will punish defendant for her conduct and deter her and others similarly situated from like acts in the future, in addition to a trial by jury.
The plaintiffs are represented by Louis R. Lessig of Brown & Connery, in Westmont, N.J.
The defendant has not yet obtained legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:20-cv-02715
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com