If the Inspector General petitions a circuit court for the closure of a residential care community, for the transfer of residents, or for the appointment of a temporary manager, the circuit court shall hold a hearing no later than seven days thereafter, at which time the Inspector General and the licensee or operator of the residential care community may participate and present evidence.
A circuit court may divest the licensee or operator of possession and control of a residential care community in favor of temporary management. The temporary management is accountable to the court and has those powers and duties that the court may grant to direct all acts necessary or appropriate to conserve the property and promote the health, safety, welfare and rights of the residents, including, but not limited to, replacing managerial and other staff, hiring consultants, making necessary expenditures to close the residential care community or to repair or improve the residential care community so as to return it to compliance with applicable requirements, and receiving, conserving and expending funds, including making payments on behalf of the licensee or operator. Priority in making payments shall be given to expenditures for current direct resident care and the transfer of residents, if necessary.
The person charged with temporary management shall be an officer of the court and paid by the residential care community if resources are available; he or she may not be held liable in any capacity for conditions at the residential care community that originated or existed before his or her appointment nor may he or she be held personally liable for any act or omission, except those constituting gross negligence or intentional acts that result in injuries to persons or damage to property during his or her tenure as temporary manager.
It is unlawful for any person to impede the operation of temporary management as appointed by the court. For 90 days after the appointment of temporary management at a residential care community, any legal action that would interfere with its functioning or operation shall be automatically stayed. These actions include, but are not limited to, cancellation of insurance policies, termination of utility services, attachments to working capital accounts, foreclosures, evictions and repossessions of equipment used in the residential care community.
Temporary management appointed by the court for purposes of making improvements to bring a residential care community into compliance with applicable requirements may not be terminated until the court has determined that the residential care community has the management capability to ensure continued compliance with all applicable requirements: Provided, That if the court does not make such a determination within six months of the appointment of the temporary management, the temporary management terminates by operation of law at that time, and the residential care community shall be closed. After the termination of the temporary management, the person who was appointed as the temporary management shall make an accounting to the court, and after deducting the costs of the temporary management, expenditures and civil penalties and interest no longer subject to appeal, in that order, from receipts, the remainder, if any, shall be paid to the licensee or operator of the residential care community.
W. Va. Code § 16B-9-11