Addiction nonprofit owner speaks out in loan lawsuit

Flindt Andersen, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Parents and Addicts in Need (PAIN) and CEO of New Perceptions North, comments on a lawsuit in which he is a defendant in a financial dispute over a loan. Photo via flindtandersen.com

Flindt Andersen, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Parents and Addicts in Need (PAIN) and CEO of New Perceptions North, comments on a lawsuit in which he is named as a defendant in a financial dispute over a loan.

The lawsuit, which involves Andersen and members of his family, raises questions about the nonprofit recovery organization PAIN and its ties to the for-profit New Perceptions.

Andersen and his attorney, Charles Mannock of Mannock Law, say the reference to PAIN in the lawsuit is unrelated to the loan dispute over plans to open a nursing home in Hanford.

Pamela Smith filed suit in an attempt to settle an outstanding loan.

The original loan amount in 2021 was $120,000. Smith claims he received $54,000 and is owed $126,000 in damages, including $60,000 in interest.

“It’s a dispute about the amount of a loan, or more precisely, the amount that’s owed,” Mannock said. “Pam Smith recently resigned from her job – she had previously worked at New Perceptions and PAIN. Shortly thereafter and during that time period, there was a discussion about how to repay that loan.”

He added that the lawsuit contains irrelevant allegations about PAIN’s business practices, particularly its referral of customers to New Perceptions.

“When I read the lawsuit, I was immediately struck by the reference to a non-party — PAIN — and the implication that there was something wrong with the way PAIN conducted business with New Perceptions,” Mannock said.

Mannock explained that such referrals are standard practice in the addiction treatment industry and are neither illegal nor unethical.

“The way the complaint was written seemed to lead to the conclusion that something was wrong here — that this was bad,” Mannock said. “Not only does it allow the reader to misunderstand the law — you’re just throwing it out there in a public forum — but it also has no bearing on the loan dispute.”

In the lawsuit, Smith claims Andersen told him he would not take a salary from New Perceptions until the loan was repaid.

Mannock says the salary is within industry standards and is unrelated to the financial dispute.

Mannock said the defense intends to file a motion to strike those irrelevant allegations from the complaint and focus solely on the financial issue.

“It is imperative that the public is given a full and unbiased picture of what this dispute is really about, rather than a baseless reference to a perfectly legal act that suggests wrongdoing,” he said.