SCRANTON - The Advocacy Alliance of Scranton is accused of tricking a man out of his house in a March 26 lawsuit filed in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas.
Plaintiff Charles Ronald Kleckler received his mother's home in Scranton as a life estate as her mental and physical health declined. In 2018, Kleckler's mother was placed into the Elmcroft of Midvalley Assisted Living Facility by the defendant, after she was assigned a guardian from the Advocacy Alliance for being unable to care for herself any longer.
Kleckler says his mother was transferred to the Timber Ridge Health Care Center in Wilkes-Barre without any of her family being notified. In 2019, the defendant told Kleckler and his family that they had to lay a claim on the property he received from his mother because she was on Medicaid, the suit says.
Consequentially, a lien for nearly half of the home's value was placed on the home, the suit says. Kleckler then sold the property to satisfy the lien and paid half of the sale's value to the defendant.
According to the suit, an employee of the defendant accidentally mentioned in a meeting with the plaintiff two months later that his mother was just put on Medicaid that month, and hadn't been on Medicaid as the defendant had led the plaintiff to believe.
The plaintiff then discovered that there was never any actual Medicaid lien on the home his mother gave him.
The Advocacy Alliance is charged with negligence and negligent supervision. Kleckler seeks at least $50,000 in payback and is represented by Thomas J. Jones, Jr. PC.