Customers, notably Beverly Enterprises, decided to hire their own therapists.

Beverly Enterprises said it could average $500,000 to $1 million to add a living room and retrain the staff.

The cases, decided in March and now on appeal, involve Beverly Enterprises, which operates more than 800 nursing homes across the country.

That left the lawyers with 18 individual cases against Beverly Enterprises.

Under Beverly Enterprises, the nursing home operator that sponsored the trust, "it got run into the ground," he said.

Beverly Enterprises is the other company that has positioned itself to survive.

Beverly Enterprises was the second-most-active issue on the Big Board, with 4.8 million shares traded.

"Beverly Enterprises withdraws libel suit; threat to academic freedom diminishes."

Beverly Enterprises has weathered bouts with the courts over trying to keep out labor unions and charges of mistreating patients at a few homes.

In 1989, the nation's largest nursing home company, Beverly Enterprises, was in deep financial trouble.