Chapter 16 - The contract fight
Lang Family Care argued Commonwealth owed:
Two months unpaid base fees.
Termination fee under the agreement.
Certain subcontractor costs.
Total claim:
$74,000.
Commonwealth counterclaimed:
$45,940 for unsupported/duplicative invoices and costs.
Could trust simply say:
Victoria abused Lily, pay nothing?
Contracts do not work that way automatically.
Some services were real.
Jenna’s team had transported Lily.
Managed appointments.
Paid aides.
The arbitration separated:
Company work.
Victoria’s alleged criminal conduct.
Then termination clause.
If terminated for cause involving safety misconduct:
No six-month termination fee.
Was Victoria’s pending criminal case enough to establish cause?
Contract defined cause as:
Credible evidence of endangerment plus suspension by licensing/oversight authority? Lang Family Care itself wasn't medical license holder. Hmm. Better cause includes "material breach of client safety obligations reasonably determined after investigation." Commonwealth had DCF/hospital evidence.
Arbitrator likely would uphold termination, but still process.
Then unpaid subcontractors.
Commonwealth agreed to pay directly documented third-party costs:
$21,600.
No reason nurses/aides lose money.
Base management fees during disputed period:
Held.
Then past overbilling.
Independent accounting settled on:
$22,400 unsupported.
Not $45k.
Lang Family Care repaid/credited.
Then civil settlement proposal:
Commonwealth pays $18,000 final management fees.
Company waives termination fee.
Company repays $22,400.
Net:
Company pays trust $4,400 after setoff.
Could resolve.
Victoria refused initially.
Why?
Admission of cause.
Jenna wanted settlement.
Company's 20% minority partner, Robert Mills, wanted settlement.
Victoria owned 80%.
Operating agreement allowed her to control? Yes, but if criminal restriction impacted management, interim board maybe. Let's keep simple: Victoria remained owner but management decisions above litigation threshold required both Victoria and Robert under bylaws. He supported settlement.
They settled.
No admission criminal liability.
Contract ended.
Then business.
Lang Family Care rebranded? Too soon. No.
Lost its highest-profile pediatric client.
Two other families left after disclosures.
Revenue dropped around 35%.
Jenna stayed.
No bankruptcy.
Then Victoria’s personal finances.
She had earned maybe $145k annually.
Legal fees mounting.
No need ruin.
Then trust.
Commonwealth suspended all care-company arrangements for Lily and hired independent pediatric case manager:
HarborBridge Clinical Services.
Flat fee:
$1,900 monthly.
No incentive tied to acuity.
Nursing only if doctors prescribe.
Every vendor sends reports directly to:
Me.
Trust officer.
Pediatrician.
May you like
No one person owns the file.
That was the system Lily needed.
