Attorneys for Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services said in court documents filed Tuesday, Sept. 26, that the proposed sale of seven Western Pennsylvania nursing facilities, including one in Butler County, could keep them from closing down.

The potential $56 million sale of those facilities to Kadima Healthcare Management is on hold due to an injunction filed by the Department of Labor. The department is currently locked in a battle with Comprehensive Healthcare over a 2018 civil case regarding employees’ unpaid overtime wages.

One nursing home listed in the proposed sale is The Grove at Harmony, 191 Evergreen Mill Road, Jackson Township.

The other facilities included are The Grove at Irwin, The Grove at Washington, The Grove at Latrobe, The Grove at New Wilmington, The Grove at New Castle and The Grove at Greenville.

Efforts by the Butler Eagle to reach officials at The Grove at Harmony and Comprehensive Healthcare for comment on the potential sale or closure were unsuccessful.

According to court documents, Comprehensive Healthcare’s attorneys said the company is losing money and assets and would not be profiting from the sale.

“If the facility defendants are unable to transfer operations, it is likely they will run out of funds and be forced to close their operations,” attorneys said. “The closure of these facilities would displace hundreds of residents from their homes.”

Comprehensive Healthcare attorneys argued in court documents that selling to Kadima had been discussed since earlier this year, though the official contract of sale and operations transfer agreement were negotiated in August.

Administrators from Comprehensive Healthcare were in court Wednesday in regard to the sale allegations. Proceedings were held in connection to a 2018 civil case in which the Department of Labor claimed Comprehensive Healthcare failed to keep up-to-date wage records or compensate employees for overtime. The department is seeking $40 million in unpaid overtime and other damages.

In court documents, attorneys for the Department of Labor said the potential sale was a ploy to “frustrate” the effort to recover funds from the labor case.

The department expressed a desire to stop the sale with a preliminary injunction, which would preserve the existing state of affairs until the court reaches a decision.

Comprehensive Healthcare attorneys countered the department’s point through court documents filed Tuesday.

“Whether the property sells or not, (the department) can still enforce (Fair Labor Standards Act) compliance. In other words, the equitable relief of FLSA compliance is not tied to the sale of the underlying property,” they wrote.

In 2022, Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services was also listed with five other individuals in a federal indictment on charges of fraud in connection to falsified records.