James Square Nursing Home legal battle continues in Onondaga County court

SYRACUSE, NY — New trouble is surfacing for the former owners of James Square nursing home in Syracuse.

Attorneys for families of the patients claim former shareholders conspired to pocket profits at the cost of patient care.

The facility was in the spotlight in recent years amid an investigation into neglect and poor care.

The center was the target of a raid by the New York Attorney General in 2017. The A.G. found more than half a dozen resident care violations.

A federal inspection revealed a nurse tried to unclog a man's feeding tube with a paper clip and a cotton swab. Then June 2018 patients and their families filed a class action lawsuit.

In December of 2017, new owners stepped in to take over, renaming the facility Bishop Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.

The new owners admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to pay out nearly half a million dollars to past and current residents.

Connie Coleman says her dad has since died but he suffered the whole time he was in James Square.

"The care was horrific," said Coleman.

Heartbreaking stories of appalling patient care at James Square nursing have been coming to light in recent years.

"He was left in soiled diapers. He was left unattended for hours at a time," said Coleman.

On Wednesday, the legal battle between patient's families and the former owners of James Square continues.

Inside an Onondaga County courtroom, Jeremiah Frei-Pearson who's representing the families through a class action suit, argued three former owners created a web of legal entities to stash money that should have gone to patient care.

He said they should be held personally accountable.

"This was a scam where money needed to be spent to keep elderly people safe was pocketed by these three individuals," said Frei-Pearson.

lawyers for the former owners filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit -- saying there was no scheme to pocket money and their clients are not liable for poor patient care.

The judge denied that motion, which was a win for the thousands of people in the class action suit.

"We are fighting as hard as we can. I said in 2017 when we filed this it would probably be a long fight and we are going to fight like hell for them. And we're going to push it to verdict as quickly as we can," said Frei-Pearson.

This case is headed for trial.

As Frei-Pearson prepares to represent the families -- he says a jury will hear the horrific stories of patient mistreatment.

"They deserve justice, they deserve to be cared for in a manner as if it's your own family member and they're not getting it," said Coleman.

The judge also unsealed company documents, which the class action attorney says could reveal the inner workings of what he calls a "scam."

CNYCentral hopes to get access to the documents in the next week or so.

There were several defense attorneys in court, the one CNY Central was able to talk to declined to comment on the case.