Court upholds Wood County decision

5/21/2005

BOWLING GREEN The Sixth District Court of Appeals has upheld a Wood County Common Pleas ruling that county commissioners were within their rights to fire a firm hired to run the county nursing home.

Communicare Inc. managed the East Gypsy Lane Road nursing home, now called Wood Haven Health Care, for 13 years but commissioners ended its management contract in 2001 because the facility was losing money and Communicare was unresponsive to their concerns.

The firm filed suit in 2002, claiming commissioners terminated the contract without notifying it they were dissatisfied. The appeals court agreed with Judge Robert Pollex, who ruled the contract was void because it had not been competitively bid.