Latest news with #StaceyJernigan
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Fiction On The Bench? Dallas Judge Jernigan Is Turning Pages
A Texas bankruptcy courtroom may have become the setting for one of the most controversial legal dramas in the Lone Star State's history. A drama is so rich that it might even be considered a good enough plot for a fiction novel, so much so that a presiding judge may have allegedly written a fiction book based on what was going down in her courtroom. Chief Bankruptcy Judge Stacey Jernigan, who presided over the recent billion-dollar dismantling of Dallas-based Highland Capital Management, per is now under fire for writing a collection of fiction books that critics say mirror the real-life case she oversaw as a judge. Highland Capital's founder, James Dondero, accused Jernigan of bias, abuse of authority, and rubber-stamping massive legal fees, all while releasing novels that suspiciously resembled the proceedings she oversaw. The Fifth Circuit recently rejected Dondero's attempt to force Jernigan's recusal but noted a 'strong argument could be made' that she should have stepped aside. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Fifth Circuit ruled that Judge Jernigan did not need to recuse herself from the case despite the extremely transparent similarities between her novels and the proceedings she oversaw as a judge. Jernigan's books feature fictional hedge fund characters whose exploits echo the drama surrounding Highland's recent viral cases. Some critics claim that these books reveal insider knowledge and hostility toward the financial world she directly oversaw as a judge. In a previous report by the ABA Journal, a legal team highlighted similarities between the fictional characters and real-life individuals involved in the case that Jernigan was so keen to write and profit from. Meanwhile, the real-life bankruptcy cases have drawn many scrutinous eyes, not just from the readers about the outcomes but also from those critical of Jernigan. Legal fees reportedly topped $250 million during the Highland Capital Management bankruptcy proceedings, with one law firm partner earning nearly $30 million annually, according to Above the Law. Meanwhile, per Scribd, no bonuses were paid to rank-and-file employees. Despite the court's refusal to intervene, legal observers say the Fifth Circuit's language could fuel ethics complaints or even congressional probes. As The Dallas Express investigates, one thing is clear: the bankruptcy under Jernigan may be more than a financial meltdown; it might be a cautionary tale about judicial accountability and someone seeking creative clout over their duty. Stay tuned for another DX deep dive into the $250 million legal fees, alleged Russian ties, and what really happened inside Jernigan's courtroom (or novel pitches). As of the time of publication, Jernigan's team has not responded to multiple attempts to reach out for a compliment from DX about the encroaching book plots she wrote following the cases she oversaw.
CBS News
25-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Taylor Hospital to close Saturday days after Crozer Health shutdown announcement
Taylor Hospital in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, will close Saturday morning, days after a federal bankruptcy judge approved Prospect Medical Holdings' plan to close Crozer Health. Friday was the last full day the hospital stayed open. Employees were told that Taylor Hospital will officially close at 8 a.m. Saturday. Hospital staff said the mood inside on Friday was somber, with some describing it as a funeral. Only 10 patients remain at Taylor Hospital, according to an employee. The employee said the patients were being discharged or transferred to other hospitals on Friday. Employees spent Friday cleaning out offices, emptying refrigerators and taking other steps to wind down. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stacey Jernigan authorized California-based Prospect's plan to close Crozer Health, Delaware County's largest hospital system, which includes Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland and Taylor Hospital. Crozer Health closure comes after monthslong effort to save it fails The decision to close Crozer Health comes after a monthslong effort to save the health system failed. Nearly $50 million was invested in Crozer to maintain its payroll. A $5 million deal between Prospect and Penn Medicine to keep it operating collapsed. Layoffs of more than 2,600 Crozer Health employees began Friday. Crozer-Chester is expected to close on May 2 — its ER will close on Wednesday, April 30. A Prospect spokesperson claimed earlier this week that the ambulatory surgery and imaging centers at Brinton Lake, Broomall, Haverford and Media will stay open. Peggy Malone, a longtime Crozer Behavioral Health nurse and president of the Crozer-Chester Nurses Association, said Tuesday that Prospect is moving to close the system "so rapidly." "We have tried everything we could. We've had so many of our legislators out here to help us save this health system and save these patients. I still, in my heart, don't believe it's over," Malone said. "I still, in my heart, believe somebody is going to help us." With Taylor Hospital closed and Crozer-Chester next, Delaware County will have only two hospitals remaining: Riddle in Middletown Township and Mercy Fitzgerald in Darby. EMTs told CBS News Philadelphia the Crozer closure will lead to longer wait times and potentially deadly consequences in Delco. Delaware County officials declared a disaster emergency to help safeguard public health, continuity of care and mobilize resources to support residents and health care workers. Prospect plans to put its assets up for auction next week. Township partners with Narberth Ambulance amid Crozer closure On Wednesday, when Crozer Health hospitals began diverting patients, Ridley Township partnered with Narberth Ambulance as part of the township's disaster emergency declaration. The Ridley Township Board of Commissioners announced that Narberth Ambulance will serve as the township's 911 EMS provider, delivering advanced life support services to the township. According to the board of commissioners, the partnership will provide 24/7 ALS coverage and rapid response times. The Woodlyn and Holmes fire companies will continue to provide basic life support services, according to township officials. Main Line Health to hold résumé dropoff at Riddle Hospital Thousands of workers will be seeking new jobs now that Crozer Health is closing. Main Line Health will be holding a résumé dropoff on Tuesday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Riddle Hospital. People looking for jobs in the health care system can also have the opportunity to speak with someone from its recruitment team.
CBS News
23-04-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Crozer Health hospitals begin diverting patients after judge approves Prospect's closure plans
Crozer Health hospitals in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, began diverting patients from their emergency departments Wednesday morning, one day after a federal bankruptcy judge approved Prospect Medical Holdings' plan to close the health system. Patients brought to Crozer Health locations will be treated and released or treated and transferred to other hospitals in the area. With the closure of Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital, Delaware County now has only Riddle and Mercy-Fitzgerald hospitals remaining. Nearby hospitals will absorb Crozer Health patients, including Riddle Hospital, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in University City and ChristianaCare Wilmington Hospital in Delaware. Elective inpatient admissions have also stopped at Crozer-Chester and Taylor hospitals. Many other services, including trauma, surgery, oncology, as well as obstetrics and gynecology, have also been discontinued. The emergency departments will no longer accept patients by ambulance either. Federal judge approves Prospect's closure of Crozer Health On Tuesday, April 22, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stacey Jernigan authorized Prospect Medical Holdings' plan to close the Crozer Health system. In approving the closure, Jernigan said she loses sleep over the "widespread consequences" of the ruling. The closing decision comes after a monthslong effort to save the Crozer Health system failed. Almost $50 million was invested in Crozer to keep the payroll going. Last week, a $5 million deal between the California-based Prospect and Penn Medicine to keep the system operating collapsed. According to testimony, Crozer Health has $19 million on hand. Closing Crozer-Chester and Taylor hospitals is expected to cost upward of $30 million. Crozer-Chester admitted 19,000 patients, treated 53,000 emergency department patients and delivered 1,700 babies every year. Lawmakers, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Attorney General David Sunday, fought to save the system while condemning Prospect. Democratic State Sen. John Kane is calling for criminal charges against Prospect. "There's got to be a crime. To me, this is worse than blue-collar crime," Kane said. "This, to me, is fleecing of America when you have a corporation that comes in like that and steals all this money and shuts down a hospital that is so needed in Chester and the area, and this entire community." What happens next for Crozer Health? Thousands of Crozer Health hospital workers received email notices Monday about the system's closure. Layoffs impacting more than 2,600 employees are expected to begin Friday. Prospect anticipates that the full closure of Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital will be completed within 30 days. Earlier this week, a Prospect spokesperson claimed the ambulatory surgery and imaging centers at Brinton Lake, Broomall, Haverford and Media will stay open. This is a developing story and will be updated.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Judge approves plan to close hospital system in Delaware County
(Getty Images) Questions swirled in a Texas courtroom Tuesday about the ongoing treatment of patients in a pair of suburban Philadelphia hospitals that are slated to close after their bankrupt owner abandoned plans to transfer them to another hospital system. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stacey Jernigan approved Prospect Medical Holdings' plan to begin turning new patients away in Delaware County on Wednesday and to stop providing most services by Friday. The emergency departments at Crozer Chester Medical Center in Upland and Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park will stop receiving patients by ambulance but walk-in patients will be accepted for up to a week. In a hearing on the request, lawyers for a nurses union asked for assurance that the company would pay wages and pension contributions owed since Prospect filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January. Another lawyer representing several Delaware County municipalities and the school district where one of the hospitals is located argued that the company had not given the required notice that it would stop providing emergency medical and ambulance services. 'Closing a hospital system of this size is an absolute massive undertaking, and as you would expect, there is chaos, especially given that staff and patients in the community really believed that there would be a hero … stepping up,' Patient Safety Ombudsman Suzanne Koenig testified, adding that the staff remain dedicated to ensuring an orderly transfer of longer-term patients to other facilities. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Prospect has owned Crozer Health System since 2016 and closed two of its four hospitals in recent years as the California-based parent company faced financial peril. On Monday, it notified more than 2,600 employees that it would close its remaining two hospitals. It is one of the largest employers in the county. Attorney William Curtin, who represents Prospect in the bankruptcy case, said company officials worked tirelessly with the assistance of the Pennsylvania attorney general's office to work out a deal to give the hospitals to a new owner in exchange for assuming their liabilities. 'At the end of the day, your honor, it came down to funding, and there just wasn't funding there to support a transition or to support a long term future for these hospitals,' Curtin said. Pennsylvania and the philanthropic organization The Foundation for Delaware County provided more than $40 million in funding to allow the hospitals to continue operations as Prospect negotiated with the University of Pennsylvania to acquire the hospitals. While Penn offered to inject an additional $5 million for the purchase of certain assets and assumption of leases, it would have also added to Prospect's debt and the money would not be available until the deal was closed, Curtin said. 'So essentially, the $5 million was going to be too late, and it was unfortunately going to be a bridge to nowhere, because there was … nowhere to go,' he said. In response to Prospect's announcement Monday, Delaware County issued an emergency declaration that provides greater flexibility in hiring, procurement, emergency medical services dispatch, and in tracking and potentially recouping expenses related to the ongoing hospital closures. The county filed a motion opposing approval of the closure plan. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'To be clear, Delaware County is extremely disappointed in this outcome, and in the actions of Prospect in every step of this process,' county officials said in a statement. Previously owned by Los Angeles-based private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, Prospect was saddled with $1.3 billion debt as its owners took more than $645 million in dividends and fees, according to ProPublica. Nicole Stallings, president and CEO of the Hospital + Health System Association of Pennsylvania, said that while it is unfortunate that no agreement was reached to allow Crozer to continue operating, hospitals are 'consistently called upon to help when access to care is in crisis' and 'will undoubtedly step up and take care of those in need regardless of ability to pay.' She noted that half of the commonwealth's acute care hospitals operate at a loss, according to the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Cost Containment Council. Crozer Health System was losing $12 million a month, according to Prospect. Stallings said the association is ready to work with policymakers and payors to address the underlying challenges pressuring hospitals and protect Pennsylvanians' access to care. The closures will leave Delaware County, with 576,000 people, only two hospitals. It is the fifth most populous county in the commonwealth. Andrew Costa Kelser, who represents the Philadelphia area health care pension fund and the local affiliate of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, questioned Chief Restructuring Officer Paul Rundell about wages and pension payments. 'I think our first priority right now is patient safety, and we're focusing on that. And so as I sit here today, I can't answer anything other than focusing on patient safety issues,' Rundell said. While Judge Jernigan denied the union's motion for additional language in the closure plan to assure the payments, she said the question remains a 'giant issue' in the resolution of the bankruptcy. 'There's going to be hell to pay if people don't get paid their post-petition wages and pension obligations,' Jernigan said. 'I've gotten assurances from the debtor that these employees will get paid their wages or their salaries as long as they continue to work.'
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Federal bankruptcy judge approves deal to sell Roger Williams and Fatima hospitals
During a U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas hearing in Dallas Wednesday, an attorney for Prospect Medical Holdings said the sale of is its two Rhode Island hospitals, including Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, above, is expected to close in 30 to 60 days. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current) A federal bankruptcy judge has authorized the sale of Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, offering what proponents hope will be a cure to the ills inflicted by its bankrupt owner. 'There has certainly been a compelling argument in the presentation of facts showing that time is of the essence here,' Chief Judge Stacey Jernigan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, said during the hearing in Dallas Wednesday. 'There is a significant prospect that the debtor would not be able to keep these Rhode Island hospitals up and running for very much longer if it did not did not have the approval of a transition.' The deal is expected to close in 30 to 60 days, said Anne Wallice, an attorney for Sidley Austin LLP, which represents the hospitals' owner, Prospect Medical Holdings. Otis Brown, a spokesperson for CharterCARE Health Partners, Prospect's Rhode Island subsidiary, praised the approval as 'critically important' in a statement Wednesday. Prospect filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, just before the $80 million sale of its Rhode Island hospitals to The Centurion Foundation was expected to close. The bankruptcy declaration reignited fears among Rhode Island health care providers and advocates over the fate of the two safety net hospitals. Prospect had for years sought to offload its Rhode Island assets to new owners to boost its weakened balance sheet; meanwhile, Roger Williams and Fatima have grappled with canceled surgeries, a lack of equipment and federal violations of health and safety protocols under Prospect's ownership. Prospect declares bankruptcy, says sale of Roger Williams and Fatima hospitals will continue Prospect, a national hospital chain operator based in Los Angeles, owed more than 100,000 creditors at the time of its bankruptcy filing on Jan. 12, recording liabilities between $1 and $10 billion. Prospect continues to face severe cash flow woes and expected to end the week with just $11.7 million cash, Paul Rundell, chief restructuring officer, said in written testimony Monday. Without additional financing, Rundell said Prospect would run out of cash entirely by Feb. 21, risking operations at its 16 hospitals nationwide. The $80 million sale of Roger Williams and Fatima is expected to return $10 million to $15 million to Prospect, according to Rundell. There has certainly been a compelling argument in the presentation of facts showing that time is of the essence here. – Chief Judge Stacey Jernigan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas Jernigan's authorization to sell the pair of Rhode Island hospitals does not address broader restructuring decisions, including what happens to contractors and consultants that provide services locally. Those agreements will be considered at a later date, Jernigan said. Prospect and Centurion had asked Jernigan to fast-track the sale of its Rhode Island hospitals despite the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, indicating that without the sale, the facilities may shutter. The Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General and Rhode Island Department of Health, which gave conditional approval to the sale in June 2024, also cited the potentially devastating impacts of losing the hospitals, which account for more than 50,000 emergency room visits per year across its 400 beds combined, according to court filings. The proposed sale agreement submitted on Feb. 3 was updated hours before Wednesday's afternoon hearing to reflect concerns raised by the state regulators as well as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The attorney general's office objected to the original sale agreement because it did not explicitly state that Prospect must still meet the 85 conditions state regulators attached to the sale, several of which have still not been met. The updated agreement reflects the need for Prospect and Centurion to still meet the conditions already set by state regulators to close the deal. The revised agreement also specifies that Prospect must seek CMS approval to formally transfer its licenses to treat Medicare patients to Centurion, based on objections filed by CMS. Prospect will also pay $3.2 million to CMS for outstanding debts, while setting aside another $465,000 in escrow for future debts that might arise before the sale closes. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha in a statement Wednesday following the hearing reiterated the need for Prospect to meet outstanding conditions set by the state, which include an $80 million cash infusion into the hospitals balance sheet as well as a separate escrow account, to be held by the AG, to keep operations running. 'The bankruptcy court's approval of this sale provides reason for cautious optimism,' Neronha said. 'All parties came to the table to prioritize moving these hospitals away from private equity and returning them to local control. At the same time, we can still stop the closing if any of our conditions are not met. Currently, several information requests from the State remain unfulfilled, including those involving critical financial information. My Office will stay vigilant to ensure that our conditions are fully adhered to.' Both Neronha and Dr. Jerry Larkin, state health director, stressed the importance of the sale to stabilize the hospitals, and the state's health care landscape. 'While some steps in this transaction are still outstanding, we are committed to the two facilities having new ownership,' Larkin said in a statement. 'Rhode Island needs a stable network of hospitals that supports the health and wellness of every community in the state.' Jernigan praised state regulators for their rigorous, yearslong review, ensuring the deal protects the hospital operations, patients and employees. 'This is not a quick fire sale or anything of that nature,' she said. Jernigan also touted the benefits of the sale in returning the two Rhode Island hospitals to nonprofit status — bucking the trend of private equity taking over the health care industry. Local advocates for the sale also see a return to local control as pivotal. Centurion's lack of experience in hospital operations, as well as use of debt financing to pay for the deal, caused initial doubts among the United Nurses and Allied Professionals, which represents more than 1,200 workers for CharterCARE. But even UNAP leaders warmed to the sale after Prospect filed for bankruptcy; even if Centurion can't keep the hospitals afloat, state regulators would be able to step in before the situation escalated to an out-of-state bankruptcy filing under the conditions attached by the AG and health department. The net $192 million in taxable and tax-exempt bonds being used to cover the cost of the sale could not be secured without a sale order from the bankruptcy judge, Wallice said. The biggest hurdle has been cleared, but a line of smaller obstacles remain in the form of the half dozen consultants and contractors hired by Prospect to provide financial services, technical support and software for its Rhode Island hospitals. Some just want to know what will happen to their agreements when the hospitals change hands. But one, Fifth Third Securities, is also still vying for the unpaid commission owed for helping Prospect negotiate the deal in Rhode Island. The subsidiary of Fifth Third Bank was hired by Prospect to act as its bank and financial adviser in the sale starting in 2021. The contract required Prospect pay a commission fee equal to at least 3% of the sale cost, according to court documents. But now, Prospect looks to be reneging on that agreement as Wallice indicated Wednesday in response to arguments made by Rebecca Matthews, an attorney representing Fifth Third. Jernigan ruled that Matthews' objections over unpaid commissions and fees were not germane to the sale, punting the dispute to a later hearing. However, Matthews warned that the company's objections will come with extra administrative costs and potentially, more delays. 'Fifth Third is not Dropbox,' Matthews said, referring to the file hosting service. 'Fifth Third is a bank and this is a contract they had for investment banking services which they've been providing.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
