Senior Citizens Win Refund of Care Payments

THOUSAND OAKS —  Scores of elderly residents who lived in a retirement home that was shut down in foreclosure are due refunds of up to $80,000 under terms of a lawsuit settlement, state officials announced Tuesday.

The $2.1-million settlement from the operators of the La Serena Manor Retirement Village will be distributed by the state Department of Social Services to more than 100 former residents of the defunct Thousand Oaks care facility, officials said.

La Serena Manor Inc. was sued last year by the state for false advertising and unfair business practices after company officials refused to reimburse senior citizens the amounts due on long-term care contracts but continued paying themselves hefty management fees, according to documents filed in Ventura County Superior Court.

The lawsuit named La Serena Manor Inc., Pacific Homes Inc. and Mort Swales, the president of both companies. Pacific Homes operates 11 senior citizen-oriented businesses in Southern California, including convalescent and retirement homes in Chula Vista, Claremont and La Jolla.

The retirement home went bankrupt in 1986, but was purchased at a reduced rate by Pacific Homes, which operated the facility under the name La Serena Manor Inc., the suit said.

A spokeswoman at Pacific Homes’ headquarters in Woodland Hills said Swales was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

The lawsuit alleges that the firm failed to hire a skilled nurse as it promised its residents and offered other incentives to get residents to move in but failed to make good on them.

In court documents, Swales denied any wrongdoing and said the company’s financial condition was well known to state officials when the sale of the retirement home was approved in 1986.