Ruling boosts Levy plan for nursing home

A Suffolk judge on Thursday refused a request for a temporary injunction to stop Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy's plans to close the county's Yaphank nursing home.

Justice Paul L. Baisley Jr. said the four plaintiffs - three John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility patients and one employee - were seeking "to accomplish by judicial intervention what the legislature was unable to accomplish via the legislative process."

The ruling opens the door for Levy to advance his agenda to close the 264-bed nursing home. Levy, whose efforts to sell the facility were rebuffed by the legislature last year, predicted the county will win the lawsuit.

"The justice's language foreshadows that a win on the merits is very, very likely. We are moving ahead with closure, as prescribed in the 2011 adopted budget," he said.

Anton Borovina, the attorney for the four plaintiffs seeking to keep the nursing home operating, vowed to appeal and said he is confident it will be reversed at the appellate division, which already has ruled once for the plaintiffs.

The state Health Department approved the closure of the facility on Jan. 21, saying Suffolk's plan to transfer residents elsewhere "satisfactorily meets" state requirements.

The county's 2011 budget funds the nursing home only through March 31. County officials estimate it would cost $3 million a month to operate it after March; those funds were not included in this year's budget.