Thrive Senior Living Lawsuit: Abuse Claims and Arbitration Rulings

Thrive Senior Living, the Atlanta-based operator founded in 2007, has been involved in several lawsuits and legal disputes, including elder abuse allegations and criminal charges tied to its Martinez, Georgia community, a landlord default fight with LTC Properties, a North Carolina appellate ruling on arbitration in a resident-injury case, two dismissed federal employment suits, and a trademark case Thrive itself brought against a competitor.

Elder Abuse Allegations at Thrive at Augusta

The most serious legal matter tied to Thrive centers on its Martinez, Georgia community, Thrive at Augusta. In November 2022, a male employee was recorded on video grabbing a 92-year-old resident with dementia by the front of her jacket and then pulling and pushing her. Thrive fired the employee immediately, and the resident was moved to another facility. He was later charged with simple battery of a person 65 years or older, a misdemeanor.¹

Charges reached other workers too. Devyn Glenn, a 20-year-old former trainee who gave the video to the media, was charged with a felony for failure to report elder abuse. In his resignation letter, Glenn said he was leaving “because of failure to properly investigate abuse in the facility,” and he maintained that he and coworkers had previously reported abuse to Thrive management. Thrive terminated another former employee, Tyangle Walker, on March 9, 2023, saying she failed to report the assault immediately and refused to cooperate with internal and police investigations. Walker was not charged.²

A second incident at the same facility surfaced in March 2023. A 95-year-old resident reported being assaulted by three female staff members who allegedly forced her into a shower and pushed her against walls and the floor. Deputies at Piedmont Hospital observed injuries on both of her arms. Thrive reported the incident to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Healthcare Facility Regulation Division. As of spring 2023, the sheriff’s office described the broader situation as an active investigation with additional arrests possible, though none had been made in connection with the shower incident.¹

Georgia State Inspection Citation

Before those criminal cases became public, state regulators had already flagged problems at Thrive at Augusta. The Georgia Healthcare Facility Regulation Division inspected the facility from late November through December 9, 2021, and cited it for failing to ensure its resident safety policies were properly implemented. Inspectors found that a private sitter had worked at the facility for four to six months without submitting a criminal background check or a negative tuberculosis screening, and had not consistently signed in and out through the electronic kiosk system.³

The same inspection noted a November 2021 report that this sitter was withdrawing $600 per day from the resident’s bank account. Thrive told inspectors the resident had cognitive changes and had previously told police he agreed to the sitter’s compensation. The facility said it added a corrective step requiring private care providers to submit background check and health screening documentation directly to the facility.³

Gunter v. Thrive Senior Living: Arbitration Ruling in North Carolina

A published North Carolina appellate decision addresses a resident-injury claim against Thrive. Marianne Gunter, represented by her daughter Stephanie O’Madigan under a power of attorney, sued Thrive after Gunter was injured when another resident attacked her at a Thrive facility. Thrive moved to compel arbitration under a clause in the Resident Agreement O’Madigan signed on June 29, 2020. The trial court denied the motion because Thrive itself had never signed the agreement.⁴

The North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed in September 2022. Judge Chris Dillon, writing for the court, held that Thrive had shown mutual assent through its conduct: it accepted Gunter as a resident, performed its obligations, and accepted residency fees. The court ordered the trial court to stay proceedings and compel arbitration.⁴

LTC Properties Default and Loss of Six Communities

Thrive’s relationship with its landlord LTC Properties, a real estate investment trust that owned six senior living communities operated by Thrive, ended in 2019. On April 5, 2019, LTC issued a formal notice of default and demanded $2.6 million in unpaid rent. Thrive had repaid $1.4 million previously deferred from the second quarter of 2018 and caught up on other 2018 obligations, but had paid no rent for 2019. LTC’s chief investment officer, Clint Malin, attributed the nonpayment to cash flow problems at the communities.⁵

By June 2019, LTC had replaced Thrive at all six properties. Trilogy Management Services took over two memory care communities in Louisville, Kentucky, and West Chester, Ohio. Veritas Healthcare Group began leasing three assisted living and memory care communities in Corpus Christi, Texas; Athens, Georgia; and Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. LTC listed the sixth property, Thrive Memory Care at Deerwood in Jacksonville, Florida, for sale.⁶

Federal Employment Suits

Two federal employment cases naming Thrive as a defendant ended in dismissals.

In Stanley v. Thrive Senior Living, LLC, filed in February 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jamey Stanley brought claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The parties reached a settlement by April 2023 and filed a joint stipulation of dismissal. The court dismissed the case with prejudice in June 2023, with each side bearing its own costs.⁷

In Jones v. PVHA/SIMS-Savannah Commons, LLC et al., filed in January 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Vincent Jones brought claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act against multiple defendants, including Thrive Senior Living and an individual manager, Joyce Crowder McBride. District Judge R. Stan Baker dismissed the case with prejudice in July 2021, with each party bearing its own fees and costs.⁸

Trademark Case Filed by Thrive

Thrive has also been a plaintiff. In August 2021, the company filed a trademark infringement and unfair competition lawsuit against Innovative Health, LLC, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Thrive alleged that Innovative Health began using the “Thrive” name in 2020 in the senior living, rehabilitation, and Alzheimer’s care market in the Chicago area, creating consumer confusion with Thrive’s federally registered trademarks, which the company has used since 2012. According to the complaint, Innovative Health ignored a cease-and-desist letter and continued operating under the mark, including through the domain name thriveahead.com.⁹

1
Augusta Chronicle. Thrive Senior Living in Martinez Workers Arrested After Abuse Allegations
2
Augusta Chronicle. Former Employees Release Video of Assault at Thrive Senior Living Augusta GA
3
Thrive SL. Augusta State Survey Reports
4
FindLaw. Gunter v. Thrive Senior Living LLC, COA21-766
5
McKnight’s Senior Living. LTC Properties Issues Notice of Default to Thrive Senior Living Demands $2.6 Million
6
McKnight’s Senior Living. LTC Shares Fate of Six Thrive Senior Living Communities
7
CourtListener. Stanley v. Thrive Senior Living LLC
8
PACER Monitor. Jones v. PVHA/SIMS-Savannah Commons LLC et al
9
Law Street Media. Senior Living Company Files Trademark Complaint Over Use of Thrive