A Georgia assisted living community that closed its doors in July, giving residents 72 hours to relocate, is being sued by some of the residents’ families.
Four families filed suit on Friday against Janice Stewart and her son, Brian Stewart, as well as the community they operated until mid-July, Tranquil Gardens Assisted Living and Memory Care, according to court records. The families allege breach of contract, negligence and unlawful eviction.
Additionally, the families allege, the Stewarts did not give 30 days’ notice of closure as required by the Georgia Department of Community Health. The department investigated Tranquil Gardens at the time of the evictions and cited the owners, and the county sheriff’s office investigated as well, but the assisted living and memory care community closed at that same time.
“The suit alleges economic and emotional harm caused by the evictions, including a wrongful death allegation. One former resident with dementia declined so rapidly after he was evicted from Tranquil Gardens Assisted Living and Memory Care that he died last month,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“Whether the evictions were caused by mismanagement or malfeasance, we don’t know,” plaintiffs’ attorney Edmund Novotny told the newspaper. “We do expect the discovery process of the litigation will tell the true story.”
In a statement in July, the Stewarts said: “A yearlong shut down due to COVID was something that we were unable to recover from as a new business. While we have worked tirelessly to try and remedy the situation and explored every possible avenue, a domino effect of things out of our control transpired at the end that led to a very heartbreaking and rapid end to the facility.”
The statement continued: “Again, the safety and care of our residents is the most important thing, and we are truly grateful for all of those that have worked quickly to help our residents find new homes. We know that emotions are high when family is involved, and we hope that in time people will be able to see past the false allegations being made and know that we are truly devastated to close our doors and say goodbye to all of our residents.”
The McKnight’s Business Daily was unable to find a working phone number to contact the Stewarts for comment on the pending lawsuit.
