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LOUISIANA RECORD

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Former HomeLife in the Gardens executive accused of defamation with voicemail

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NEW ORLEANS – A former executive director of an assisted living facility is accused of falsely attributing a lewd voicemail to a man and forwarding it to industry professionals.

HomeLife in the Gardens LLC and Donald E. Rankey Jr. filed a complaint on Oct. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against Leigh Landry alleging defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

According to the complaint, Landry began her employment as the executive director of the HomeLife in the Gardens' assisted living facility in New Orleans in May. The suit states that HomeLife in the Gardens issued her a notice of corrective action in August regarding her "'intimidating, irrational and inappropriate behavior.'''

The suit states that on Aug. 17, Landry contacted Rankey's son stating that received a lewd voicemail message from Rankey. Landry was terminated the same day as Rankey did not leave the message, the suit states.

Rankey alleges that a hospice liaison notified him in September that Landry had forwarded the voicemail message to multiple people in the industry, attributing it to him.

The plaintiff holds Landry responsible because the defendant allegedly created an indecent message from another caller and maliciously edited her phone contact list to identify plaintiff Rankey as the owner of the phone number and forwarded the voice message to multiple people within the industry.

The plaintiffs seek judgment in their favor in an amount to commensurate with their injuries and damages to be determined, plus interest, attorneys' fees, costs and for all equitable relief. They are represented by Bryce M. Addison and F. Evans Schmidt of Koch & Schmidt LLC in New Orleans.

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Case number 2:16-cv-15549

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