Zaborowski v. Hospitality Care Center of Hermitage, Inc.

Michael Zaborowski (plaintiff) admitted his mother, Anna Zaborowski, to Hospitality Care Center of Hermitage, Inc. (Hospitality) (defendant), a Pennsylvania nursing home. The written admissions agreement stated that Hospitality would provide Anna with safe and reasonable care, a safe environment, and care services promoting her highest practicable physical and mental well-being. Between 1997 and 2000, Anna received such care. However, in December 2000, Hospitality terminated its president and director of nursing. Hospitality’s directors and sole shareholders, Faye Cassity and Robert Bible (defendants), hired Nubridge Development Inc. (Nubridge) (defendant) to manage the home. Hospitality sent the residents a letter explaining the change and assuring that Hospitality’s priority continued to be the provision of top-quality care in a safe environment. Under Nubridge’s management, however, Hospitality failed to maintain Anna’s quality of care. She developed various health conditions and died in April 2001. Zaborowski sued Hospitality, Nubridge, Cassity, and Bible (collectively, the Hospitality parties), asserting various claims, including breach of the admissions agreement, fraud based on the Nubridge letter, breach of fiduciary duty, and violation of Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL). The Hospitality parties moved to dismiss Zaborowski’s claims, arguing that they were not viable because nursing-home residents could not assert breach-of-contract claims against nursing homes, the statements in the Nubridge letter were mere puffery, there was no fiduciary relationship between a nursing home and its residents, and the UTPCPL did not apply to the provision of medical services. The court considered the parties’ arguments.