BATON ROUGE - The Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office and Iberville Sheriff Brett Stassi were brought to federal civil court for allegedly defaming a nursing home after receiving a large campaign donation from a different nursing home.
The complaint was filed in Baton Rouge federal court on April 20 by plaintiff Plaquemine Plaza Holdings, LLC, which owned and operated Iberville Oaks Nursing Home and Rehab from 1988 to 2020.
The plaintiff says that defendant Sheriff Stassi began appearing in television interviews accusing the nursing home of neglecting its residents after a news station began an investigation into the number of 911 calls made from or related to the nursing home in a certain period of time.
A nearby nursing home had the exact same amount or more 911 calls in the same amount of time, but the sheriff never stated this fact in his television interviews, the lawsuit says.
Stassi allegedly received a large campaign donation from the other nursing home that was never mentioned.
The plaintiff nursing home says that the sheriff's interviews had negative repercussions, including several employees resigning, defamation and a Louisiana Department of Human Services investigation.
The defendants are accused of violating equal protection and due process claims.
The plaintiff is represented by Smith and Fawer LLC of New Orleans.