ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A group of seniors was dealt a setback this week in a years-long fight against a senior living provider flooded during Hurricane Ian.
A federal judge handed a victory to Good Samaritan Kissimmee Village in the first major decision of dozens of cases filed against the complex.
The property was inundated with water when Shingle Creek flooded during the storm. It was the second major flood to hit the property in a handful of years. The first was during Hurricane Irma.
After residents were evacuated to a nearby hotel, they said administrators for Good Samaritan pressured them into signing documents that waived their right to sue the company in exchange for getting their deposits back quickly.
Many of the residents said they didn’t fully understand what they were signing, either because they didn’t speak English or they were too overwhelmed after losing everything.
The judge said the circumstances in the one case being decided did not amount to signing under duress.
“A person who signs a contract bears the burden ‘to learn and know the contents of a contract before [s]he signs and delivers it,’” Judge Roy Dalton noted, quoting precedent as he granted the motion for summary judgement.
The attorney for the woman involved in the case, Community Legal Services CEO Jeff Harvey, said he was troubled at the precedent Dalton’s decision could set for future cases.
“We hear from people, especially post-storm, in all kinds of scenarios where they’re stuck in a very short timeframe and trying to figure out what’s the best decision,” Harvey said. “In a scenario like this… to be able to say, ‘Well, too bad, so sad. They signed the document,’ especially when the other side is an organization that is supposed to be looking out for the good of those people, it is concerning.”
Harvey said his client had not decided what their next step would be, but he indicated an appeal would be on the table.
He said it was a good reminder to slow down and think even when it seems like the world is falling apart.
“We tell clients all the time: you really need to carefully consider those decisions,” he explained. “You need to take the time to go speak to an attorney, or go speak to somebody who understands what the implications of those are, because -- as this case says -- if you make that decision and you made it wrong [or] uninformed, that’s too bad.”
WFTV reached out to Good Samaritan’s parent company, Sanford Health, for its response to the ruling.
“We are committed to providing high-quality, safe care to residents who place their trust in us,” Chief Operating Officer Aimee Middleton wrote. “We are privileged to serve and care for those who call Good Samaritan home.”
As of 2023, Good Samaritan had been trying to offload its Kissimmee site as it scales back its national footprint to focus on the Midwest. So far, the property has not been sold.
Harvey and his team are still overseeing approximately four dozen other cases, mostly filed in state court.
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