TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – A judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought on the City of Tallahassee and Florida State University by the NAACP surrounding the sale of the hospital.
Circuit Judge Lee Marsh granted the city and university’s motion to dismiss on Aug. 31, saying the Tallahassee Branch of the NAACP lacks standing.
The NAACP and several Tallahassee residents filed a lawsuit in May seeking to void the sale of the hospital.
The City of Tallahassee and FSU filed motions to dismiss the NAACP’s case in July, saying that they lacked standing because “they have not suffered an injury caused by FSU or the City.”
In that suit, the NAACP claimed that Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare would be operating without a valid license if a new lease wasn’t signed between TMH and FSU, after the city transferred the hospital’s assets, citing a state law that governs these types of transfers.
The Monday ruling claims that statute does not apply in this case. The statue says a “county, district or municipal hospital may sell or lease the hospital to a for-profit or not-for-profit Florida entity.”
“The statue’s text distinguishes governmental operation from private acquisition, comparing operation ‘by a governmental entity’ against operation ‘by a not-for-profit or for-profit entity,” and referring throughout to a ‘private entity purchaser,’” the ruling reads. “A conveyance to an agency of the State falls outside the transaction the statue regulates.”
The NAACP’s suit also claimed that the transfer agreement does not protect indigent care.
The city and FSU argued the terms of the Use and Restrict Agreement contradict that claim.
“FSU shall ensure that the Charity Care Policy is continuously maintained as a component of the Hospital Use in a manner consistent with or more generous than the indigent care requirements set forth in the City-TMH Lease Agreement,” the use and restriction agreement reads.
Monday’s ruling said the NAACP’s claim around indigent care and healthcare funding are “impermissibly speculative.”
“Their theory depends on a chain of contingences—that the City will fail to appropriate sale proceeds, that Plaintiffs will later require hospitalization, and that their out-of-pocket costs will then arise,” the ruling reads.
Marsh’s ruling emphasized that the ruling is only on a matter of policy.
“The decision to transfer TMH assets is a matter of policy, and this court cannot step in and second guess whether that is a good or bad policy. This court can only decide on whether or not the policy is legal,” the ruling reads.
The suit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs cannot file the same suit or again.
WCTV has reached out to the NAACP and FSU for comment.
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