Lawsuit: The Citadel and Nursing Home Neglect

April 21, 2020

Salisbury, NC

WALLACE & GRAHAM PRESS RELEASE

LAWSUIT BROUGHT AGAINST ACCORDIUS HEALTH BY

RESIDENT OF THE CITADEL NURSING HOME IN SALISBURY NC FOR COVID-19-RELATED NEGLIGENCE AND INJURY

On Tuesday, April 21, 2020, Wallace & Graham, P.A. filed suit, which can be found here, on behalf of plaintiff Marjorie Fuller Garvin against defendants Accordius Health, LLC, Accordius Health at Salisbury, LLC d/b/a The Citadel Salisbury, The Portopiccolo Group, LLC, CEO Hyman Simcha and Administrator Sherri Stoltzfus.  Ms. Garvin is a resident of the Citadel nursing home in Salisbury. 

The complaint alleges that The Citadel and the other defendants acted negligently and recklessly in their handling of a recent COVID-19 outbreak at the Citadel.  Ms. Garvin has been stricken by the disease.

Ms. Garvin entered the Citadel earlier this year.  Now, she is one of many residents and staff who suffer from severe, life-threatening cases of COVID-19. 

The Citadel is a hot spot of the virus, believed to have multiple deaths and in excess of 100 reported cases at the facility as of April 20, 2020.  The dire situation at the Citadel was recently exposed and detailed by reporting in the local news outlet, the Salisbury Post.

The facility is part of a claim owned and controlled by a private equity investment firm in the New York area.  The family alleges that the company failed to track the virus as it grew and spread and did not take proper steps to protect Ms. Garvin and others from the pandemic.  Once it hit, family members were unable to reach staff by phone and were left in the dark on the status of their loved ones.  Citadel staff have complained that they, too, were not given proper protection and were left in the dark by the corporate office. 

Accordius Health owns and operates numerous nursing homes in and around the Charlotte, Triad and Asheville areas, and elsewhere in North Carolina. 

According to Mona Lisa Wallace: “Our firm is very concerned regarding the issues exposed by the facts that are known in this case.  The public records regarding this nursing home facility reflect that unsanitary and unsafe conditions existed even before the virus came to our area.  The residents of elder care facilities are some of our most vulnerable citizens.  They deserve much better.  Not only the residents, but their family members, friends, the staff, and physicians have all been exposed and put in jeopardy because of what has occurred.  We believe the company should have done much more to anticipate and guard against the COVID-19 virus before it was too late.”