Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > New Info
SLS in Brewster, NY?
Ursus:
--- Quote ---In his decision, the judge held SLS management responsible for the conduct of the therapists. "These calls were not the result of inadvertence, misplaced good intentions, or even the product of rogue employees who took it upon themselves to manipulate class members," Judge Robinson said. "Rather, it was a scheme designed and implemented by the very highest managers at SLS who are, not incidentally, named defendants in this lawsuit."
--- End quote ---
Good for Judge Robinson!!! It is great to finally see someone with the balls to do the right thing, not to mention these sleazoids getting their due. But this class action lawsuit isn't over yet, is it? The $35,000 is just a sanctions SLS incurred due to their despicable behavior in the process, no?
--- Quote ---SLS filed a lawsuit in the New York state Supreme Court seeking to reverse the revocation of its operating license by the state Office of Mental Health (OMH).
--- End quote ---
I think SLS is just trying to buy time and leverage. What do they have to lose? If they lose their operating license (actually, they already lost it), the class action suit will be a slam dunk (basically same complaints). On the other hand, if they get that revocation reversed, they might have a better chance of reducing the class action suit.
Of course, who actually pays this stuff? Not the perps involved, but the insurance companies, who then pass on the financial burden in the form of higher premiums for the other consumers.
Anonymous:
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT UPDATE
The lawyers appeared before Judge Robinson today.
Judge Robinson issued an order directing the parties and SLS' insurers to meet with a mediator to try to settle the case. He directed the parties to report back to him on February 8, 2009 regarding their progress.
The judge has not sent out the new class notices- he wants to wait to see if the parties have agreed to a settlement before sending out the new notices. If the case settles, the judge will send out new notices to all class members advising of the agreement. That way, they could decide if they want to join the case and accept the settlement or proceed against SLS on their own.
Of course, if the case does not settle, the new class notices will be sent out and the case would proceed.
THE APPELLATE DIVISION WEIGHS IN
The Office of the New York State Attorney General, which represents OMH, filed a motion in the Appellate Division to bar enforcement of Justice O'Rourke's order until the Appellate Division has had an opportunity to review and decide the appeal.
Earlier today, at about the same time that SLS was updating its Friends site to trumpet Justice O'Rourke's decision, the Appellate Division issued an order which bars enforcement of Justice O'Rourke's order.
The next step is for SLS' lawyers to appear before the Appellate Division on December 18 to show cause (1) why the appeal should not be heard at this time and (2) why Justice O'Rourke's order should not be stayed (not enforced) until the Appellate Division has decided the appeal.
Technically, this means that the OMH revocation hearing can go forward.
More importantly, in my experience, the Appellate Division grants orders of this type only when it is has serious concerns about the order issued by the lower court. I think this bodes very well for the appeal.
We all owe a debt of gratitude to the OMH and Attorney General lawyers who worked so hard to present this emergency application to the Appellate Division. The names on the papers are David Lawrence III and Pamela Tindall O'Brian. Thanks to you both, and to all who helped you out!!
Anonymous:
lots of new stuff happening with the cases against sls. the ny state attorney general has stepped in on behalf of the office of mental health and is fighting to close sls down. a revocation hearing is currently underway as well by the state. finally, the judge in the class action has ordered the parties to participate in mediation which has been scheduled for march 25th. good stuff people.
Anonymous:
So in short SLS is winning. They won the first round otherwise there would be no need for an appeal. The attorney general has no choice but to step in whether he wants to or not as the office of mental health is a state agency that got itself into trouble. They are pushing a revocation hearing with a judge that should have recused himself (have to agree with SayitAintSoJoe's arguments here: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/05/02/rep ... udge-lake/ - different case but the arguments hold). Probably OMH's desperate attempt to get some positive result on their side. Lastly mediation hearings are standard fare in any lawsuit.
Anonymous:
Funny. From what I have heard the OMH has a solid case against SLS with substantial amounts of of evidence to close the facilities.
Ironically when you read the three pro-SLS blogs currently online they all talk about how SLS "won in court" or has been "vindicated". This is so far from the truth and was created to intentionally mislead parents and loved ones of current patients as well as potential consumers. This is a company who is being sued for false advertising as part of the many other allegations of abuse. The short lived success these sites tout about literally backfired the day it was announced when the Attorney General got involved. You can read a news article about it here or by using Google to look for SLS Residential Sanction: http://www.nunya.com/index.cfm/2008/11/ ... t-facility
The Putnam jugde that originally overturned the OMH's findings had that order stayed while it awaits appeal because the AG found that the judge could not have possibly read the 3,498 pages of evidence in the one day he had it prior to making his decision. Again, three thousand, four hundred and ninety eight pages must have been read to consider the facts before a judge can make a ruling on a case he had no prior experience with).
Then SLS went back to that same judge on Jan. 20 and asked for his assistance in overturning the OMH Commissioners decision to deny SLS request for a new Hearing Officer at the Revocation Hearing. The Judge said NO. Further more this same judge DENIED SLS' request for a temporary restraining order barring the Revocation Hearing from moving forward while he reviews the OMH Commissioners ruling. On Feb. 19 the Judge made his decision to dismiss SLS' lawsuit against OMH and said the Revocation Hearing will proceed no matter what. This means the evidence and finding that SLS originally was able to get the Judge to throw out, is now back in the picture and being used as evidence to close the programs once and for all.
A lot more information regarding this can be found at the only blog that uses factual sources like government documents obtained by the Freedom of Information Act, as well as the media coverage. Even reputable law journals have discussed the case since the Federal Judge overseeing the class action lawsuit discovered that SLS developed a scheme to lie to and intimidate former patients from participating in the lawsuit. The worst of all though was that the owner actually called the facilities that some of the patients were out and tried to manipulate them to sign the legal opt0out notice on behalf of the former patient, which is not only a federal crime but would have prevented the individual from even knowing the case existed!
The staff have left. The facility no longer has any medical doctor. The owner, chief clinician and others have admitted under oath that they broke rules. They were all found to have lied under oath. They have been found to try and hide/destroy evidence and alter records.
The ship is sinking and I see prison in the future for some...
:waaaa:
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