One of the largest medical suppliers in the country is suing the troubled New Jersey nursing home chain that operated a number of facilities in Arkansas.
Twin Med LLC of Santa Fe Springs, California, alleges Skyline Health Care of Wood-Ridge, New Jersey, and its affiliates failed to pay for medical supplies.
Twin Med is seeking $5 million plus $10 million in damages meant to punish Skyline, according to its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Little Rock by attorney Richard Donovan of the Rose Law Firm.
Twin Med also has named the owner of the nursing home chain, Joseph Schwartz, who guaranteed the debt.
Schwartz began working with Twin Med in late 2016 or early 2017 to sell disposable medical supplies to his more than 150 skilled nursing homes, including dozens in Arkansas, according to the lawsuit filed last month.
Twin Med provided the nursing homes with supplies up until January 2019. But not all of the nursing homes paid their bills for the supplies, according to the lawsuit. The amount outstanding: $5 million.
Schwartz allegedly left the nursing homes undercapitalized and diverted corporate funds for his own use, according to the suit.
Regulators also scrutinized Schwartz’s nursing home chain. Last year, officials in Nebraska took 31 nursing facilities into receivership. In South Dakota, the count was 19 and in Kansas, 15. Last year, Skyline had a change of ownership at nine Arkansas nursing facilities and new license holders at two others.
Twin Med’s allegations of wrongdoing include breach of contract and fraud against Schwartz, who couldn’t be reached for comment and had not filed an answer in the case as of Thursday afternoon.
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