Clients exploited by not-for-profit, says judge

Editor's note: These not-for-profits are really very profitable when victimizing the disabled.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

 

Clients exploited by not-for-profit, says judge

Posted: Jul 02, 2013 10:31 PM CDTUpdated: Jul 03, 2013 5:31 AM CDT

Posted by Nancy Amons - email

 

• Recent Headlines

• Vanderbilt hands out layoff notices but total number unclear

• Man charged in deadly Clarksville boating accident

• Nashville 4th of July celebration goes forward, rain or shine

• Bulger's Beat: Summer program teaches songwriting, music

• PD: Man tried hanging onto moving car in attempted carjacking

• Parents hope toddler floating lessons will save lives

• Dangerous criminal back in police custody after release on bond

• Gap hiring 200 employees for Gallatin distribution center

• Wet weather in holiday forecast; areas under flood watch

• Predicted weather causes July 4 cancellations
  

GALLATIN, TN (WSMV) -

A Sumner County judge has ruled that a Nashville not-for-profit exploited a woman in its care, using the woman and other disabled adults living in its group homes as unpaid labor.

MORE

Click to read more headlines from Sumner County.More >>

Circuit Judge C.L. Rogers ordered the operators of the not-for-profit group, Salim Homes, to pay its former client Ginger Franklin $23,000. Punitive damages are still pending.

Rogers wrote, "The court finds this to be an egregious and intentional abuse of the Plaintiff."

Court documents show Franklin was placed in Salim Homes by her court-appointed conservator, Jeannan Stuart, while Franklin was recovering from a brain injury from falling down a flight of stairs in 2008.

Franklin said she was expected to work for free at Salim Homes, even though she was paying to live there.

"I was dispensing medication, I was doing all of the cleaning, all of the shopping, all of the cooking for the residents," Franklin said.

"Normally when you have a job, you get paid. I was paying them $850 a month to let them work me like that," she said.

Franklin said she couldn't leave because her Stuart controlled her bank account and had taken possession of her car and her home.

"I was trapped. I felt like a prisoner," Franklin said.

Attorney Randy Lucas represented Franklin.

"The problem is there are too few people who either are competent enough to complain themselves or who have enough people to complain on their behalf," he said.

The owners of Salim Homes, Lisa and Jamie Frazier, told Channel 4 that Franklin was never forced to work for free.

"She's mad at her guardian and we're caught in the middle," Lisa Frazier said.

Franklin said the Fraziers had her clean their private home and even the private homes of their relatives for free.

"That's incredible, isn't it? Who has the nerve to do that?" Franklin asked.

The Fraziers' attorney did not return a call from Channel 4.