North Carolina Officials Created Fictional 4-Star Rating Under Legal Pressure To Settle With Troubled Adult Care Home
Before the state had even completed its work from the site visits, Leonard’s legal team filed a petition for a contested hearing on Nov. 24, 2015, through the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearings, a quasi-judicial state agency. Cedarbrook sought to have the deficiency statements “withdrawn,” the zero-star rating wiped out and the financial penalties and admissions restrictions lifted. Although Administrative Law Judge David Sutton, of the OAH’s Waynesville office, assigned the parties to mediation, they appeared headed for a trial in late 2016.