WEBSTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — A state Supreme Court judge is considering default judgments totaling close to a million dollars against a Fairport company and its owner that were supposed to pay dental bills for teachers and school staff.
The judgments would go to the schools. Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean has tracked this case since the lawsuits were filed.
Sodus and North Rose-Wolcott sued Health Economics Partners and its owner Zacchary Weber. As of late last summer, combined the school districts alleged they were missing more than half a million dollars from their dental funds.
Records show Weber and the company did not answer a single court filing. The court is now considering default judgments against them.
The judgments filed Tuesday total $195,612.26 for North Rose-Wolcott and $725,130.54 for Sodus.
The orders have not been signed yet.
Amber Hoertz manages Bay Ridge Dental in Webster, where many of the teachers and staff went for care. The dentist was supposed to be paid by a third party hired to control a fund the teachers contributed to, but time after time the bills went unpaid.
“Really the people that suffered were our patients, the teachers and the staff and the families that are associated with those staff members,” Hoertz said.
Bay Ridge Dental continued to care for teachers and staff and worked out a deal to get paid directly by the schools. Some money is still owed.
Since he started reporting on this, Brean went to the Health Economics Partners office twice to try to talk to them. He called and sent several emails which went unanswered. The case has no defense attorney listed, and an email to the owner was “undeliverable.”
Brean reached attorney Jared Cook at Tully Rinckey to explain what a default judgment is. When a lawsuit is filed, the defendant has to answer it.
“If a defendant doesn’t do that in a certain time period then they are deemed to have admitted all the material allegations of the complaint,” Cook said.
Brean: “In a civil case, is a default judgment effectively a verdict?”
Jared Cook, Tully Rinckey Law Firm: “Yes. Short answer is yes it is.”
You can appeal a default judgment but it’s very strict. They can appeal if they didn’t know about it, they can appeal if there’s new evidence, and they can appeal if there was a mistake or fraud.
In October, the original owner of Health Economics Group sued the current owner of Health Economics Partners.
