Dunphy lawsuit tanks Pine Crest sale

Lincoln County is back to square one with nursing home

TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR

At the July 2, 2024, Lincoln County Administrative & Legislative Committee meeting, Lincoln County Administrative Coordinator Renee Krueger officially announced Merrill Campus, LLC and Senior Management, Inc. had canceled their Asset Purchase Agreement with Lincoln County to purchase Pine Crest Nursing Home, citing Section 5(A)(v) that on the Closing Date (which was originally set for June 30, 2024), “there shall not be any lawsuits filed or threatened against the Seller or the Nursing Home …” .
In a June 28 letter to Krueger in her role as Administrative Coordinator for Lincoln County from Richard J. Summerfield, the attorney for the buyer, Summerfield wrote that due to the lawsuit filed by Donald J. Dunphy against Lincoln County referencing that Asset Purchase Agreement, “the Seller is in default” of the Agreement and ”Purchaser is electing to terminate this Agreement effective immediately and is requesting the refund of the Earnest Money from the Title Company.”
Though a judge had not yet ruled in the lawsuit against Lincoln County, Dunphy accomplished his goal in getting the sale canceled.
Now Lincoln County is back to square one with Pine Crest Nursing Home and the A&L Committee is taking some time to let the dust settle, start thinking creatively, and figure out where to go next.
While the continued operation of Pine Crest Nursing Home was in the County’s budget through the end of 2024, there are no funds allocated to the operation of the nursing home for 2025.
Members of the A&L Committee - and the entire Lincoln County Board - will be looking at the ramifications of the cancelation (of which there are many), and the A&L Committee plans to begin discussions at their August meeting; however, they did retain the option to call a special meeting of the A&L Committee in later July if they feel they are ready to get started tackling the issue.