Two years ago, Plaza Health Network agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Justice $17 million to settle a civil investigation that revealed the Aventura-based nursing home chain operated an illegal kickback scheme involving Medicare and Medicaid patient referrals. Now, Plaza Health is looking to recoup the money by suing its former general counsel and the prominent law firm he was a partner in for malpractice.
Although Plaza Health sued attorney William Eck and Greenberg Traurig on May 27, the Miami-Dade Circuit Court lawsuit has not been reported until now. Plaza Health accuses Eck and Greenberg of providing bad legal advice and failing to stop alleged illegal activities by its former CEO William Zubkoff that led to the Justice Department’s investigation.
“The bottom line is that Mr. Eck did not provide his fiduciary duty,” said Ronald Lowy, chairman of Plaza Health’s board of directors. “He knew about the problem and allowed it to go on for a long time.”
By Francisco Alvarado, FloridaBulldog.org, Special to SouthFloridaReporter.com, Nov. 22, 2017
