Alan R. Hecht v. Legend Senior Living, LLC, and Allentown PCH, LLC

District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania·Decided April 21, 2026·No. 5:25-cv-05397·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

ALAN R. HECHT, Plaintiff,

v. No. 5:25-cv-5397

LEGEND SENIOR LIVING, LLC, and ALLENTOWN PCH, LLC, Defendants.

O P I N I O N Motion to Dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), ECF No. 17 – Converted into Rule 56 Motion and Granted

Joseph F. Leeson, Jr. April 21, 2026 United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION Plaintiff Alan R. Hecht initiated this action for elder neglect and abuse against Defendant Allentown PCH, LLC, an assisted living facility, and Defendant Legend Senior Living, LLC, its parent company. Plaintiff brings claims for breach of contract, breach of duty of care, fraud, breach of unfair trade practices and consumer protection law, negligence per se, piercing the corporate veil, and unjust enrichment. Defendants move to dismiss the claims for breach of duty of care, fraud, and negligence per se, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), arguing they were brought outside of the two-year Pennsylvania statute of limitations. Plaintiff responds that such an affirmative defense should not be resolved on a motion to dismiss, and that Defendants’ statute of limitations argument relies on evidence outside the pleadings. The Court gave notice of its intent to convert the motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment and gave the parties time to supplement their arguments. After a review of the full record, and for the reasons discussed below, the Motion to Partially Dismiss is hereby converted into a motion for partial summary judgment, and granted. II. BACKGROUND1 A. Factual Background Plaintiff Alan R. Hecht is an elderly individual who, from September 29, 2020, to April 7, 2023, lived as a resident at Legend of Allentown, an assisted living facility located in

Macungie, Pennsylvania. Second Am. Compl. ¶¶ 1, 6, 11, 27, ECF No. 15. Defendant Allentown PCH, LLC provides personal care, assisted living, and memory care services to elderly residents at Legend of Allentown. Id. at ¶ 8. Legend of Allentown and Allentown PCH, LLC are owned and operated by Defendant Legend Senior Living, LLC. Id. at ¶¶ 7-8. Upon becoming a resident at Legend of Allentown (hereinafter “Legend” or “Defendants’ facility”), Plaintiff entered into a residency agreement with Defendants, pursuant to which Plaintiff was to be provided with room and board, three daily meals daily, and various personal care services to help manage his hypertension and diabetes mellitus, including: medication management; communication with third party service providers; dietary oversight; assistance with daily living activities; physical therapy; and transportation to medical

appointments. See id. at ¶¶ 12-13, 15. Plaintiff paid a monthly fee for these services but alleges

1 “[A] court must convert a motion to dismiss to a summary judgment motion if it considers extraneous evidence submitted by the defense[,] [in order] to afford the plaintiff an opportunity to respond.” Pension Benefit Guar. Corp. v. White Consol. Indus., Inc., 998 F.2d 1192, 1196 (3d Cir. 1993) (citing Cortec Indus., Inc. v. Sum Holding, L.P., 949 F.2d 42, 48 (2d Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 960 (1992)). Having done so, the Court shall reference in this factual background section the extraneous evidence provided by Defendants, see Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986) (finding that a party moving for summary judgment bears the burden of showing the absence of a genuine issue as to any material fact), as well as that produced by Plaintiff during his opportunity to respond, Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c); Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324 (explaining that, once such a showing has been made, the non-moving party must go beyond the pleadings and produce evidence to demonstrate specific material facts which give rise to a genuine issue). When deciding a motion for summary judgment, “[t]he court need consider only the cited materials, but it may consider other materials in the record.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(3). All evidence must be considered in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 378 (2007). This background section is drafted accordingly. that he did not receive the full extent of services he was entitled to under the agreement. See id. at ¶¶ 15-16. Instead, Plaintiff asserts that he was subjected to extreme neglect by Legend staff, including but not limited to: being intentionally over-medicated and under-medicated at various times, being under-exercised and not encouraged to attend meals, being fed a high-sugar diet, and even being “frequently left sitting in his own excrement and urine for hours or even days,”2

due to incontinence issues exacerbated by his diabetes and the staff’s failure to clean or replace his mattress cover with a waterproof one. Id. at ¶¶ 16-21. Plaintiff alleges that Legend staff also falsified internal records to cover up this mistreatment, reporting that Plaintiff “refus[ed] medication, assistance, and meals,” id. at ¶¶ 16, 22, and that Plaintiff “refus[ed] to be transported to and be treated by doctors in connection with his diabetes,” id. at ¶ 23. Plaintiff denies ever refusing any of these services. Id. at ¶¶ 22-23. Plaintiff asserts that it was not until September 2022, when a new staff member began working at the facility and took an interest in Plaintiff’s care, that his hygiene conditions and diet improved. Id. at ¶ 20. Said employee, later identified as Ms. Teehonestee Johnson, see Johnson Decl., ECF No. 21, was reportedly terminated soon after

she voiced these concerns to Legend staff, see id. at ¶¶ 8-14; Second Am. Compl. ¶¶ 26, 33 (describing Ms. Johnson as one of several former “whistleblower” employees of Defendants). Plaintiff vacated Defendants’ facility on April 7, 2023, “due to ongoing mistreatment and inability to obtain required medical services.” Second Am. Compl. ¶ 27. Plaintiff alleges that, upon vacating Legend, he was a shell of his former self,” id., “confused,” id. at ¶¶ 23, 28, “vulnerable, compromised, and unable to access or verify falsified records during the course of his residency at Legend of Allentown,” id. at ¶ 30. Only once he moved to a new facility did

2 Plaintiff attached photographs of this unpleasant scene—depicting human waste stains on the furniture in Plaintiff’s room—to his Second Amended Complaint. See Second Am. Compl. ¶ 18. Plaintiff begin to “recount some abuse and mistreatment in late 2023 and into 2024, as his cognition improved,” and as he “compared notes, and experiences, with former employees of Defendants.” Id. at ¶ 33. Plaintiff alleges that these “whistleblower” employees helped him to “connect the dots and better understand how he was being neglected and abused by Defendants,”

id. at ¶¶ 33-34, “confirm[ing] Plaintiff’s belief . . . that he was neglected and abused” while residing there, id. at ¶ 37. Plaintiff alleges that such information “was conveyed in or around October 2023.” Id. Plaintiff also asserts that it was not until these conversations with Defendants’ former employees that he discovered the details of his mistreatment, because Defendants’ acts of falsifying records and reports “prevented reasonable discovery of Plaintiff’s injuries by himself or others.” Id. at ¶ 30. B.

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Alan R. Hecht v. Legend Senior Living, LLC, and Allentown PCH, LLC, (E.D. Pa. 2026).

Alan R. Hecht v. Legend Senior Living, LLC, and Allentown PCH, LLC (Alan R. Hecht v. Legend Senior Living, LLC, and Allentown PCH, LLC) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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