Through court documents and Tuesday's court hearing, we're learning another organization made an offer to acquire the hospital back in May.
That $150,000 offer to the Madera Community Hospital CEO from American Advanced Management Inc has since come under fire.
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In July, Adventist Health agreed to manage Madera Community Hospital in a non-binding letter of intent.
American Advanced Management Inc. (AAMI) says it had already offered the hospital a better deal that would help the troubled facility get out of bankruptcy faster.
"AAMI appeared at a hearing about two weeks ago and said that they wanted to conduct discovery because they suspect that Madera is favoring Adventist because people want to keep their jobs," said Riley Walter, Attorney Representing Madera Community Hospital.
AAMI's chief strategy officer, Matthew Beehner, says they hope documents shed light on why the hospital chose Adventist Health over their offer, which they thought was better.
"We're just looking for clarity on what the decision-making process was that had them take an LOI that is essentially a lot less likely to have success on getting through creditors committee and bankruptcy court as it leaves Madera Community Hospital on their own to solve their bankruptcy problems," said Beehner.
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Court documents reveal on May 30th, Karen Paolinelli, Madera Community Hospital's CEO, met with AAMI's team about the buying or managing of the hospital.
She says they made "an unsolicited, written offer of employment to me," she says she did not accept it, adding, "the entire interaction made me feel very uncomfortable."
Riley Walter, the attorney representing Madera Community Hospital, says they believe the offer was to get the hospital to sign with AAMI.
"It was an improper attempt to influence the outcome," said Walter.
But Beehler says at the time, they wanted to give Paolinelli a job because they wanted her to stay on and continue to run the hospital.
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"We didn't view it as trying to get a leg up on any competing offers or anything because we didn't believe there were any other competing offers. We were simply trying to move fast to get the hospital re-opened," said Beehler.
There are still a number of steps to go through until the hospital can reopen its doors.
"At that point, if AAMI, or anybody else -- you see, all of this has to still be approved by the attorney general, they may not like the deal, who knows, But until we have a deal, it can't get served up to the court, and other people can't be heard until it is served up," said Walter.
The hearing is being continued to September 28th for AAMI to file documentation and the hospital to respond.
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