Top LICH bidders discuss joint purchase of hospital
Justice Baynes moves to cut through the clutter of litigation
State Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes astounded a courtroom filled with lawyers, litigants and residents on Thursday when he asked attorneys for three competing bidders for Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital (LICH) to gather behind closed doors to try to work out a joint plan to keep the embattled hospital in operation.
The unusual settlement negotiations could break through a logjam of burgeoning litigation threatening to tie up SUNY’s sale of the hospital for months or even years.
Community groups and doctors had entered the courtroom prepared to ask the judge to throw out questionable proposal rankings in the state’s RFP process for LICH, but put off that arguement until May 20. Fortis Property Group was set to present arguments against the community groups’ claims.
Other litigation is pending as well. Brooklyn Healthcare Partners, the first place bidder eliminated in a court decision earlier this week, has filed an appeal.