Lincoln County to sue Dunphy for interfering in Pine Crest sale

On Monday, Mar. 10, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. in a special meeting of the Lincoln County Administrative & Legislative (A&L) Committee that lasted approximately two hours, most of which was held in closed session, the Committee directed the broker contracted to facilitate the sale of Pine Crest Nursing Home to continue negotiations with the interested parties. The A&L Committee then took formal action to sue Lincoln County Board Supervisor Donald J. Dunphy (and former Lincoln County District Attorney) for interfering with the contract between Lincoln County and purchaser Merrill Campus, LLC and Senior Management, Inc. for the sale of Pine Crest Nursing Home.
The sale of the nursing home had been originally set to close between the parties on June 30, 2024, and then on a mutually extended closing date of Sept. 30, 2024, but the buyer canceled the Asset Purchase Agreement on June 28 of last year, citing a litigation clause in the contract, after Dunphy filed a lawsuit on May 16, 2024, which he said was intended to stop the sale.

Meeting details

The committee moved into closed session after calling the meeting to order at 4:30 p.m. With County Board Chairman and A&L Committee Chairman Jesse Boyd; A&L Committee members and Angela Cummings, Ken Wickham, Lori Anderson-Malm, Marguerite Lyskawa, and Greg Hartwig; Lincoln County Corporation Counsel Karry Johnson; Lincoln County Administrative Coordinator Renee Krueger; and the broker selected by the Committee to facilitate the sale of Pine Crest Nursing Home, Marcus & Millichap, all in attendance. DePasse made a motion, and Wickham seconded a motion to go into the closed session, and it passed unanimously on a roll call vote. Any other Lincoln County Board Supervisors in attendance were also invited into the closed session portion of the meeting. The closed session was called according to Wis. Statutes for the purpose of “Deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session” for the purpose of an update from the broker and review of any Letters of Intent for the sale of Pine Crest Nursing Home.
After more than an hour deliberating, the meeting was called back into open session on a motion from Julie DePasse, seconded by Greg Hartwig, and a unanimous vote.

Chairman Boyd announced there was no motion coming out of the closed session; however, the broker had been directed to continue negotiations with interested parties. He called for a 10-minute recess and, once reconvened and called back into open session, a second closed session was conferred according to Wis. Statutes for the purpose of “Conferring with legal counsel for the governmental body who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to litigation in which it is or is likely to become involved” specific to “(1) litigation related to return of earnest money; (2) possible litigation related to Tortious Interference by Donald J. Dunphy with Contract of the Sale of Pine Crest Nursing Home; and (3) the tax deed class action lawsuit in Wisconsin filed against all counties and the City of Milwaukee.”
DePasse made the motion, seconded by Cummings, with the closed session to include Krueger and Johnson; it passed unanimously on a voice vote.
After nearly another hour, the A&L Committee again reconvened into open session on a motion from Cummings, second from Lyskawa, and a unanimous voice vote.
This time the Committee did take formal action. DePasse made a motion directing Lincoln County Corporation Counsel to draft a resolution to authorize the commencement of litigation against Donald J. Dunphy for tortious interference with the contract regarding the prior Pine Crest Nursing Home sale at her earliest convenience. The motion carried on a voice vote before the meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.