SJC hears dispute over Heritage at Framingham's "community fee" after Ryan remand

Ivy Nguyen, attorney for appellant Mary Ann Morse Healthcare Corporation doing business as Heritage at Framingham, told the court the summary-judgment judge below failed to follow this court's 2019 decision in Ryan v. Maryann Morse Health Care Corp. by not giving the remand's limited exception proper effect: "Our position is the summary judgment judge did not properly apply the directives that this court gave in that decision," Nguyen said.

Nguyen argued the remand required the parties to develop evidence tying the upfront community fee to statutorily permitted assisted-living (ALR) onboarding services and other ALR-specific functions. She told justices the facility retroactively calculated staff time and other payroll costs to show onboarding expenses exceeded fees collected and said a flat market-based fee was sometimes the only practicable approach because intake varies year to year.

Joshua Garrick, counsel for James Ryan and the certified class,…