UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

Transcription

1 CASE NO.: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, AND STATE FARM FIRE & CASUALTY COMPANYadd, -vs- Plaintiffs, MEDICAL SERVICE CENTER OF FLORIDA, INC., MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC CENTER OF FL., INC., DIAZ, DIAZ, AND Defendants. / Note: This was probably written "FL." on the notice. If that's how it's written on the notice, that's how it stays in the caption. It should be written as the company spells it throughout the transcript though. VOLUME I OF I VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF spacing Thursday, January, :: a.m. - :: p.m. One Southeast Third Avenue Miami, Florida {Stenographically} Reported By: FPR FLORIDA PROFESSIONAL REPORTER

2 On Behalf of the Plaintiffs: APPEARANCES: AKERMAN LLP no, 0 NORTH LAURA STREET, SUITE 0 no, JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, SANDRA.HELLER@AKERMAN.COM MICHELLE.DAVIS@AKERMAN.COM BY: SANDRA L. HELLER, ESQUIRE MICHELLE L. DAVIS, ESQUIRE On Behalf of the Defendants: ANTHONY M. GENOVA no, WEST FLAGLER STREET, SUITE 0 no, MIAMI, FLORIDA, AGENOVALAW@GENOVALAW.COM BY: ANTHONY M. GENOVA, ESQUIRE Also Present: Beylus, Videographer Levan (Videographer in training) Reyes Diaz Diaz

3 WITNESS: INDEX OF PROCEEDINGS PAGE: align page #s DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. HELLER: CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. GENOVA: REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. HELLER: CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER CERTIFICATE OF OATH PLAINTIFFS' EXHIBITS Number Description Page Plaintiffs' Notice of Taking Videtaped Exhibit No. Deposition Duces Tecum Plaintiffs' Florida Driver's License Exhibit No. Plaintiffs' uncap Documents Obtained From Exhibit No. Florida Department of State Division of Corporations Plaintiffs' Invoice Generated by OSHA Exhibit No. Compliance Consultants Plaintiffs' Check to Total OSHA Exhibit No. Compliance Plaintiffs' Change of Medical or Exhibit No. Clinical Director Form Plaintiffs' Application for Certificate Exhibit No. of Exemption From Licensure Plaintiffs' Stock Certificate of 0 Exhibit No. Hernandez Plaintiffs' Health Care Licensing Exhibit No. Application Plaintiffs' Certificate of Exemption Exhibit No. Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. Business Final Closing Documents this is extremely hard to read

4 Plaintiffs' uncap Document Labeled Bates Exhibit No. MSCF-00 uncap Plaintiffs' Document Labeled Bates Exhibit No. MSCF-0 Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. AHCA Health Care Clinic Standard License Plaintiffs' Application for Certificate uncap Exhibit No. of Exemption From Licensure as a Health Care Clinic Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. Certificate of Stock, Medical Diagnostic Center of Florida, FL. Inc. Plaintiffs' Correspondence to Exhibit No. Martinez Dated //0 Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. AHCA Health Care Clinic Certificate of Exemption, Medical Diagnostic Center of Florida, FL. Inc. Plaintiffs' Application for Health Care Exhibit No. Clinic Licensure Plaintiffs' Omissions Letter Exhibit No. Plaintiffs' Business Final Closing Exhibit No. Document Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. AHCA Health Care Clinic Standard License 0 Plaintiffs' Bates Labeled State Farm Exhibit No. 000 uncap Plaintiffs' Bates Labeled State Farm Exhibit No. 000 uncap

5 Videotaped deposition taken before, Court Reporter, Florida Professional Reporter and Notary Public in and for the State of Florida at Large, in the above cause. ***** record. THE COURT REPORTER: We are now on the video Today is Thursday, January,. The time is : a.m.. We are here at One Southeast Third Avenue, Miami, Florida for the purpose of taking the videotaped deposition of Diaz, taken by the Plaintiffs in Case Number. The case is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, and State Farm Fire & Casualty Company versus Medical Service Center of Florida, Florida, Inc., Medical Diagnostic Center of FL, Inc., Diaz and Diaz, which is filed in the United States District Court Southern District of Florida. The Court Reporter is The Videographer is of Beylus of uncap not used in direct address Would all Counsel please state their appearance for the record. MS. HELLER: Good morning. Sandy Heller on

6 behalf of State Farm. MS. DAVIS: Michelle Davis on behalf of State Farm. MR. GENOVA: cap defendants. Anthony Genova on behalf of all THE COURT REPORTER: Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help add? you God. THE WITNESS: Yes. Thereupon:, having been first duly sworn or affirmed, was examined and testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. HELLER: Q. Good morning, ma'am. A. Good morning. Q. If you would, please state your full legal name for the record. A. Q. Can you spell your last names, please, Knapp and the other name used? A. Knapp, K-N-A-P-P hyphen L-E-N-D-O-I-R-O, Lendoiro. That's on my driver's license.

7 Q. And is it okay if I address you as Ms. Knapp? A. Of course. Q. Wonderful. Ms. Knapp, did you bring identification with you here today? Q. If you would be so kind, may I see it, please? A. Yeah. Q. Thank you. A. Of course. BY MS. HELLER: Q. Ms. Knapp has been kind enough to show me a Florida driver's license. on this license, ma'am? Is this your current address Q. To show that you appeared today, we're going to make a copy of this license as an exhibit for the record. I don't want to interrupt us now since we're just getting started, so if you don't mind, at a break, I'll make a copy and then I'll give that directly back to you, okay? A. That's fine. Q. What your date of birth, please, ma'am? A. October th,. Q. And you're not represented by counsel personally for any reason, are you?

8 Q. You are here today, ma'am, because you were served with a subpoena pertaining to this case, correct? A. Um-hm. Q. And you have to say yes or no. A. Oh, yes. Sorry. Q. Just to go over a few housekeeping matters, I'll ask you if you've ever previously testified before. Q. Have you ever been deposed before, meaning answering questions while under oath like you're doing today? Q. Have you ever testified in a courtroom before? Q. Okay. A. Well, I've been divorced so does that count, an spacing exam, like, I guess. I don't know. I mean, I don't remember ever having to like swear or it was just like in a thing like this. Q. Do you recall if you testified in a courtroom in a court proceeding? Q. Did they take a statement on the record of you in the course of that proceeding?

9 Q. Oh, okay. Anything other than that, either personally or professionally that you've been involved with in the court system? Q. Okay. Just a few ground rules that we're going to go through pertaining to this deposition very quickly. You understand, ma'am, that you're under oath ma'am, correct? Q. Are you aware that is the very same oath you would take in front of a judge and a jury in a court of law to be truthful? Q. Any questions about the obligation to be truthful? Q. Okay. If you need a break for any reason, you had mentioned to me off the record before we got started, add - that you may be expecting a work related call. Is that right? Q. If that call comes through or you simply want to go to the restroom or grab some more water, let us know. We'll take a break to accommodate that request,

10 okay? A. Okay. Q. If I ask a question of you, Ms. Knapp, and you don't understand the question, please let me know, okay? A. Okay. Q. You're entitled to have that question explained or re-asked to you so that you fully understand it, okay? A. Okay. Q. If you answer the question, we are going to assume that you've understood the question. A. Of course. Fair enough? Q. Okay. Before receiving that subpoena, were you aware, ma'am, that there was a dispute between State Farm and Medical Service Center of Florida, Medical Diagnostic Center of Florida, and Diaz? Q. Did you know anything about this case at all? Q. add, Since receiving this subpoena have you learned anything specifically about the dispute between State cap Farm and the defendants in this case? GLOBAL Q. Once you received the subpoena in this case, ma'am, did you reach out to or speak with anyone pertaining to this case? Note: A reporter may prefer to not cap Defendant and Plaintiff unless it's used in direct address or as a pseudo professional title; e.g., Defendant Diaz.

11 A. The first one, yeah. Q. So you've received more than one subpoena -- A. Right. Q. -- pertaining to this case, correct? A. Yeah. I spoke to you the first time telling you I didn't have any documents and you said you were going to get some kind of paper to me or I was going to go sign something. Yeah. spacing Q. Okay. And you then received a second subpoena, correct? Q. And when we spoke after the first subpoena, you had indicated to me you were in possession of no do documents that were responsive to that subpoena, correct? Q. And we had discussed the option of you verifying an affidavit that perhaps you had no documents, right? Q. And then shortly thereafter, you received a subpoena to come to the deposition here today, correct? Q. Do you recall calling my office after receiving that second subpoena, the one for deposition?

12 Q. Do you recall the discussion at all that we had had at that time? Q. And what was the nature of the discussion you and I had at that time? A. I had told you that, I didn't know why you were calling me again because I had told you the first time that I didn't have any documentation, and that's when you told me oh, no, don't worry about that. to come in and talk to us. We just want you That's it in a nutshell. spacing spacing Q. Okay. Perfect. And with that second subpoena for deposition, we also re-requested once again that you bring some documented with you, correct? Q. I'm going to show you what I've just marked as Exhibit No.. (Plaintiffs' Exhibit No., Notice of Taking Videotaped Videtaped Deposition Duces Tecum, was marked for identification.) spacing THE WITNESS: Okay. BY MS. HELLER: MS. HELLER: Pass that to Mr. Genova. Q. And this is a notice for today's proceeding and if you flip to about the middle of the document, you'll

13 see the subpoena that you were served with as well. allow you a moment to flip through. Do you recognize that? I'll MS. HELLER: This we'll call the driver's license number two. MR. GENOVA: THE WITNESS: Okay. I don't ever remember seeing anything like this. I mean, I have what I got in my bag if you want to look at it. BY MS. HELLER: Q. We can do that in a moment. A. Okay. Q. If you keep flipping, do you see the document that says Schedule A? Q. Okay. And if you flip again, you get to a page that indicates Documents Requested, correct? Q. I know you have told me previously that you have no documents, but this is my first opportunity add, formally on the record to ask you about those documents so I'm just going to take you through and confirm that you don't have any of the things we've requested, okay? A. Of course. Q. We had asked for a complete copy of your file

14 for Medical Service Center of Florida. Any agreements, correspondence, compliance records, transfer of ownership records, business records or documents, including any uncap communications or submissions to any state and/or Federal agencies and financial records. Do you or any business you're affiliated with have documents that meet with description? Q. Do you maintain any file at all for the business Medical Service Center of Florida? Q. I'm going to ask you the same question for the business identified as Medical Diagnostic Center of Florida. Do you have any documents that meet the add, description for number two which was the same description for number one, anything in your file pertaining to Medical Diagnostic Center of Florida? Q. Do you maintain any sort of paper file? Q. Do you maintain any sort of electronic file? Q. Do you have a computer that you use pertaining to work you do with clinics in Florida?

15 add, A. I have my own but they're just, like, blank. add, Like, they're documents but they're not anything tailored to anybody. It's just like one that I -- do you understand or no? Q. I don't. I'm sorry. A. It's just like a, it's like a document that I have that's just a standard that I just use for everybody. Q. And when you say a document, what are you referring to exactly? A. Well, I mean I have for example, like, I do OSHA trainings and I have certificates that I issue when I do the trainings, HIPAA certificates, stuff like that. It's just like a blank. It's not anything tailored to anybody. I don't have anything specific. Q. Okay. So you have nothing that is specific to any work you have ever done for Medical Service Center of Florida or Medical Diagnostic Center of Florida? Q. Do you maintain any financial records -- Q. -- so that you can track who has paid you for your services and who has not? A. No, because the way it works for me, as soon as I -- not even finish the work. As soon as I do an

16 add, application, I get paid or as soon as I give people, add, like, their book, the OSHA book or the AHCA what they no, need, to pass inspection, that's when I get paid on. I don't have to, like, worry about following somebody to go out and get paid. Q. So how is it that you track the amount of revenue that you're generating in this work? A. I have an accountant, you know, and I go ahead and give them whatever I have deposited, you know. Q. And you yourself maintain no books? no, spacing Q. No, books, no bookkeeping, no accounting whatsoever? Q. And when I say you yourself, I mean any business you're connected to. A. Correct. Q. Who is the accountant that you've used with respect to your professional? A. Patron. P-A-T-R-O-N. Q. You were asked for any documents written or electronic evidencing your involvement in the obtaining of an exemption from clinic licensure or an alleged transfer of ownership for Medical Diagnostic Center of Florida. Is that something that you have, ma'am?

17 A. I don't have anything, no. Q. All documents written or electronic pertaining to a Business Final Closing Documents for Medical Diagnostic Center of Florida? Q. Do you have a document that meets that description? Q. Any documents written or electronic evidencing your involvement in the obtaining of an exemption from clinic licensure or an alleged transfer of ownership for Medical Service Center of Florida? Q. Do you have any of those documents? Q. All documents written or electronic pertaining to the Business Final Closing Documents for Medical Service Center of Florida dated August,? Q. Have you ever spoken with Mr. Anthony Genova, the gentleman seated here across the table? Q. Have you ever spoken or been contacted by anyone from his office?

18 Do you need this back? BY MS. HELLER: Q. We'll keep that for the record. spacing MS. HELLER: So just to be clear, the notice is Exhibit Number, and the license is Exhibit Number. BY MS. HELLER: Q. Okay, so we have been referring to a business that you have, ma'am, that pertains to work with clinics in Florida. Is that right? A. Um-hm. Yes. Q. Can you tell me a little bit about this business? A. OSHA Compliance Consultants? Is that what we're talking about, my business? Q. Sure. A. Okay. I consult for health care clinics. I uncap help them with state and Federal compliance issues. GLOBAL Q. Okay. And what types of clients do you help with state and Federal compliance issues? A. What do you mean by -- like, what kind of facilities? Q. What kind of businesses are you working with? A. Clinics, home health agencies, laboratories. Q. How many employees does this business have?

19 A. What is CLIA, C-L-I-A. It has to do with like waste testing that we can, like, perform in our one word facilities. Bio-medical waste applications, bio-medical GLOBAL waste training, bio-medical waste protocols. Stuff like that. Also AHCA, you know, I help people set up their clinics. Q. And when you say AHCA, what are you referring to? A. AHCA is the Agency for Health Care Administration. Do you want me to go on more? Q. If there is more, more state and Federal compliance issues. A. Well, AHCA what that is, it depends on who it is; if it's a licensed health care professional or a non-licensed health care professional. There are certain things that each one has to do in order to get, like, either a standard license or an exemption license and so I help them with that. Q. What was the physical address for your company OSHA? A. My home address. Do you want me to -- Q. We have it on your license, so that's fine. At any point have there been any other employees of OSHA Compliance other than yourself?

20 A. Never. Q. I'd like to ask you a little bit about your educational background, please, ma'am. Did you graduate high school? Q. And where did you attend high school? A. Miami. Q. cap cap Miami high school? A. No, no, I'm sorry. I thought you meant where, like meaning where. It's called La Progresiva P-R-O-G-R-E-S-I-V-A School. Q. And do you have any post-high school education? Q. Tell me about that, please. A. Broward Community College. Q. Did you obtain any degrees from Broward Community College? My AA. Q. And what is your AA in? A. Psychology. Q. When did you receive that degree? A. Like around ', '. I can't remember exactly. Q. That's okay. Any other education? FIU. My bachelor's in psychology.

21 Q. And when did you receive that degree? A. 00. And that's it. Q. Okay. Do you have any licenses or certifications? Q. Have you ever been employed directly in the health care field other than the consulting work you've already described for us? Q. So did you open OSHA Compliance Consultants uncap uncap after receiving your Bachelor of Science in psychology in 00? 0? Note: Only capitalize the name of an academic degree or its abbreviation when it appears after a name; e.g. John Smith, Doctor of Philosophy. When a degree is named descriptively or in a general way, do not use capitals. Morson's, BGGP Capitalization.- I opened it in 0. Q. So what did you do for employment from 00 to A. From 00 to 0, what I did is I worked for add, another company that did consulting but it was Total Medical Consultants, I think I started out with Total cap Medical compliance because they had a name change during that time. What I did for them, I did OSHA trainings, and then in 0 I broke off and I opened up my own and that's what I started out with, doing OSHA trainings. Q. Okay. And prior to 00, had you had any employment?

22 Q. What did you do prior to 00? A. Well, I worked for a Catholic hospice for a while. add, I can't remember exactly the dates but I did admissions in Catholic hospice. Q. And what is VITAS? I also worked for VITAS. A. VITAS is another hospice. And then I also did recruiting, health care recruiting for a company that was called Guaranteed Staffing. And then from Guaranteed Staffing, I went to Total Medical. Q. And between 0 and the present day, have you been employed by anyone or any other companies other than your own business, OSHA Compliance Consultants? Q. Are you working currently? A. Yeah. Q. What kind of work are you doing currently, ma'am? A. The same, consulting. Q. Who are you doing consulting for? A. Whoever calls me. As far as like names directly? I mean, I don't, like, retain names so it's just whoever calls me is who I'm dealing with. spacing Q. Okay. So you're still doing the sort of work you were doing -- A. Correct.

23 own memory, is there any way for us to confirm whether you did or did not do work for them? I mean, from my records or what, no. Q. Okay. A. Unless, like I guess the only way to know that is on our applications, our AHCA applications, it will ask you for, like, the contact person who's listed on the application. That's the only way to know. Q. So if you did consulting work for a particular clinic, would you be identified on that application, you or your company OSHA Compliance? add, A. It depends on when it was because AHCA throughout the years has revised their forms. The newer forms has that where before, that wasn't on there. So there would be really no way to find out, I mean, to know if I was involved or not unless it was, like, a new application saying who the contact person was. Q. Were you employed full-time, meaning your efforts amounted to about 0 hours a week, five days a week, when OSHA Compliance Consultants was active? A. The thing is with consulting work, you know how it is we have peaks and valleys? Q. Sure. cap A. And so I can't ever say for a good x amount of time I was employed because it doesn't work that way at

24 all. I can't ever tell you, yeah, you know -- maybe this add, week I could tell you yeah, I've worked 0 hours but it's not steady at all. Q. I see. So on average would you say it was closer to part-time hours or full-time hours? A. Part-time. Q. Can you tell me in the 0- time frame, approximately how many different clinics you were consulting for pertaining to AHCA compliance? A. I can't tell you. I have no idea. Q. Can you tell me if it was more than 0? A. I have no idea, honestly. Q. Okay. Can you tell me if it was closer to 0 or closer to five? A. Somewhere in the middle, maybe. Q. Okay. And during that same time frame, ma'am, 0 to, how is it that you would find these clinics that needed your services or the clinics would find you? A. Word of mouth is the way that it's always been. Through referrals. Q. Did you ever engage in any marketing efforts? A. When I first began my company, yeah, I did. I had a flyer and I honestly, I only did marketing twice. And what I mean by doing marketing, I actually went with the flyers, I went to a medical office building which was

25 clinics, we'll just call them, to abbreviate the concept -- MS. HELLER: Let's just go off the record. THE VIDEOGRAPHER: at : a.m. Going off the video record (A discussion was held off the record.) ( Diaz and Diaz entered the deposition proceedings.) :0 a.m. BY MS. HELLER: THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Back on the video record at Q. Ms. Knapp, we just went off the record for a moment and we were joined by a lady and a gentleman. I'll ask you, do you recognize either of these individuals who have come into the room? Q. And who has joined us that you recognize? A. Names? add, I mean, I know their faces but -- Q. I had asked you previously if you knew an individual named sounded familiar to you. Diaz and you said that that name As you look at the lady seated here who recently joined us, do you recognize her as or no? A. I remember her being pregnant. Diaz

26 Q. Okay. A. So, yeah. Q. Okay. And what about the gentleman seated beside her? Do you recognize him? A. Um-hm? Q. You have to say yes or no, for the record. this is a zero A. 0h, I'm sorry. Yes. Yes. Yes. Q. No, no, no worries. Do you recognize who he is by name? A. Now that you say, yeah. Q. And who do you recognize the gentleman to be? A. Q.? A. Um-hm. Q. And you have to say yes. Q. Sorry. It's very hard for Ms. to take down a-ha or um-hm. A. Sorry. Q. So I try to help her out in that regard. And as you see and Diaz, does that help you recall the clinics that they were associated with? Q. As you see these two individuals that have

27 plural Q. What about Florida corporation that are no longer active but previously were active? add, Q. Are you associated with a company called Calm add, C-A-L-M, Incorporated? A. That was my dad's company a long -- I was a kid. Q. Oh, okay. What kind of company was that? A. My dad wanted to start a consulting company no, spacing many, many, many, moons ago. What that is, is our initials, Clarence, Ada and. It never got off the ground. Q. What kind of consulting would that have been? add, A. Health care also but it never -- like, my parents, I was brought up in the health care field so my parents were both nurses. Q. 0h, great. A. So they worked in hospitals and nursing homes and what my dad wanted to do, primarily in that moment add, they were working in nursing homes but what they wanted to do, they wanted to go ahead and go into nursing homes and do you, like, audits and stuff like that. said, it never got off the ground. Q. I understand. Thank you. But like I And there are several on here associated with a

28 There's an Enterprises, LLC. Is that you? No. Q. There's also an Concepts, LLC. Is that you? Q. Knapps Foods Incorporated? Q. Homeowners Association, Incorporated? Q. Developers, LLC? Q. What about Staffing Services? A. Staffing, I was a recruiter for add, Staffing but that was it. Q. Were you an officer of that company? Q. I'm going to show you what I've marked as Exhibit No., ma'am. (Plaintiffs' Exhibit No., Documents Obtained uncap From Florida Department of State Division of Corporations, was marked for identification.) BY MS. HELLER: Q. And I will tell you that these are documents

29 that we obtained from the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations online. A. This is me, yes. Q. Okay. And you had explained to me that you allowed this corporation to -- its A. Dissolve on it's own. spacing Q. Yes. Yes. Okay. Great. Were there any other owners or directors or officers of this business? A. Many, many moons ago when I was married to my ex-husband, he could have been on there at one point in time, and I think I removed him. exactly. spacing Q. Okay. Thank you. I can't remember I'm going to show you what I've marked as Exhibit No., Ms. Knapp. (Plaintiffs' Exhibit No., Invoice Generated by OSHA Compliance Consultants, was marked for identification.) BY MS. HELLER: Q. And I'll ask you to take a look at Exhibit and tell me what this is, please. A. This is an invoice that I generate to clients. Q. And other than what sort of looks like a letter a little bit, would there have been any other invoice or

30 statement that you would have provided to a client in? Q. And do you keep copies of these -- Q. -- statements once you send them out? A. No, I don't send them out. I actually hand them. spacing Q. Okay. So this is dated March th of? A. Um-hm. Q. Yes? Q. Would that have meant that you actually performed some sort of service for them on that date? Q. And if you look at this invoice, Ms. Knapp, are you able to tell me simply from looking at the invoice what type of service you would have performed on March the th,? A. It's when I issued them their manuals for OSHA for HIPAA, for AHCA and then the state compliance. I mean by that was a bio-medical waste compliance. What Q. Okay. Could this have been connected to the completion of paperwork for AHCA? A. Not -- completion for me means that all the way

31 0 through until they get their inspection. you mean or -- Is that what Q. What I mean is any sort of guidance or assistance you would have provided regarding the submission of applications or other paperwork to AHCA. Q. Okay. And can you tell from looking at this if that was the sort of service you provided -- Q. -- for this invoice? A. Part of it. It's not -- it's not, I mean, usually the way that it works is that I'll do the paperwork. I'll tell them, you know, let me go ahead and review it before you send it out because the signatures or what have you, so it's a process. It's not just -- for me it's not completed until they actually pass their inspection so -- but when I give them this invoice, it's because I've already handed them all the information that they need to be able to pass the inspection. spacing Q. Okay. So if a clinic is coming to you and let's say they are a new clinic, and they want to apply for an exemption from clinic licensure, do you know what I mean by exemption from clinic licensure? Q. Can you describe that for me, ma'am?

32 A. That's when there's a licensed health care professional, there's certain licensed health care professionals in the State of Florida that actually qualify for exemption, that they can go ahead and apply for an exemption, meaning they don't have to go through the whole AHCA standard process. And what I mean by that, they don't have to give AHCA $,000, provide a financial statement, et cetera, et cetera. Q. spacing Okay. So they don't have to pay the $,000, they don't have to complete a financial statement? A. It's a financial projection, actually. Q. Is there anything else that they don't have to do as a result of this exemption? A. They don't have to have a medical director. They don't have to go through fingerprints, Level fingerprints. Q. Are they subject to less oversight than perhaps a clinic that's actually licensed by AHCA? Less oversight meaning that the standard add, license has to go through renewal every two years but AHCA tells you even though you have an exemption or a standard license, if they get a complaint or whatever, they do go out. So I mean, they still can be subject to inspections or what have you. Q. If there is many sort of complaint or some

33 other issue? A. Correct. spacing Q. Okay. But as a standard, generally speaking, there's going to be less oversight from the agency if you're exempt than if you're licensed, correct? A. Could be, yes. Q. Are there certain individuals that are precluded under Florida law from owning clinics? A. If you've been in trouble before with the law, yeah, I mean, if your fingerprints come back and they don't issue an exemption for your fingerprints then yeah, you can't have a license, a standard license. Q. What about having been charged with insurance fraud or having pled guilty to insurance fraud? Would that impact an individual's ability to own a clinic? A. For an exemption or for a standard license? Q. For a standard license. A. I think so. The whole issue is the background screening that has to be performed. Q. Okay. So when you assist a clinic with the process of opening the doors and getting an exemption or transferring from an ME license to getting an exemption, can describe for me the nature of the service you provide, all the steps you take that clinic through in that process?

34 spacing A. Okay. Well, usually I meet with the people and I tell them, you know, what services I offer. I provide them with their manuals. You know, once I tell them everything that has to be done, you know, and once we know when their inspection is, I'll come back to make sure that everything is done. And then the last step is to be with them during the inspection process. Q. Do you assist them in the completion of the application itself? Not all of it. Not all of it, no. Q. What do you mean? A. Meaning there's -- our application now and back then had a part where there was like medical director. There's information that they may not know and of course if I ask the clinic and they don't know, I'm like, "Look, there are certain sections, give it to the doctor and the add, doctor has to fill it out and not only that the doctor has to sign." Not only does the doctor have to sign the medical director service section of that application, there's also a contract that the doctor has to sign too, so yeah, I can't do that so and I'm not going to chase the doctor around either, so -- Q. So generally speaking -- and we'll speak specifically about this clinic in a moment -- but

35 generally speaking, when you are asked to assist a clinic with obtaining an exemption from clinic licensure because it's wholly owned by a medical provider, do you actually sit down and work with the medical provider? Q. Are there instances where you will work with someone other than the medical provider? A. If they have like a representative, sometimes, but that doesn't, not normally. That really doesn't happen. It's always that person. Q. Okay. So you make it a practice of sitting down with the actual doctor? A. Um-hm. Yes. Q. If you look at this particular invoice, you'll see that there was a charge and we can't see who, just looking at the invoice, the services were provided to, correct? A. No, you can't, and my invoices are still the same. add, It doesn't tell you to who it goes to but yeah, no. Q. But if we look at this $,00 fee, can you tell by the fee what services would have been encompassed in that service? A. The ones that are listed here. Q. So when it says charges for OSHA, HIPAA, AHCA

36 and state compliance, that would include providing them manuals, right? A. Correct. Q. And what else specifically? A. The applications. Q. Filling out the applications with them? Q. Okay. And what else? A. That's really it. Q. Okay. Do you speak Spanish? Q. Do you or did you in your work with OSHA Compliance assist non-english speakers with completing AHCA documents? Q. Were you able to explain to them what things said and what things meant? keep together Q. If you flip to the second page of Exhibit No., Ms. Knapp, you'll see that there's a check made out to you by Medical Service Center of Florida for $,00 it appears on this same day, correct? Q. Does looking at this check refresh your recollection at all as to Medical Service Center of

37 Florida? Q. I'm going to show you what I've marked as exhibit numbers are inconsistently Exhibit Number, Ms. Knapp. used as both "Number" and "No." in the dialog. fill in Note: Morson's and BGGP both say to use the abbreviation "No." before a digit except at the beginning of a sentence, but, of course, reporter preference wins out. (Plaintiffs' Exhibit No., Check to Total OSHA Compliance, was marked for identification.) spacing THE WITNESS: And that's not me. Total OSHA Compliance. BY MS. HELLER: Q. That's someone else? Q. Do you know or do you recognize that name Total OSHA Compliance? company? Q. And do you know who is associated with that A. Her name is D-A-N-T-E. MR. GENOVA: D-A-N -- THE WITNESS: D-A-N-T-E. She's an OSHA Consultant. She's both consulted for the same company, Total Medical Compliance and then she broke add, off. I mean, I never met her but then she broke off and she started doing her own OSHA and that's what she's still doing today.

38 BY MS. HELLER: Q. So you've never met Ms. Dante? Q. I'm going to show you what I've just marked as Exhibit, Ms. Knapp. And I'd like you to just take a moment and flip through it and do you recognize what this form is? (Plaintiffs' Exhibit No., Change of Medical or Clinical Director Form, was marked for identification.) spacing THE WITNESS: Um-hm. BY MS. HELLER: Q. What is it? A. It's the old exemption form that we used to use. Q. Exemption? spacing A. AHCA exemption. 0h, no. It's a Change of Medical Director Form. I'm sorry. Q. That's okay. So when a medical director of a clinic changes, is there an obligation for the clinic to notify the agency? Q. Can you -- let me ask you, does your handwriting appear anywhere on this application?

39 0 handwriting is going to appear on there, correct? Q. Is that in only in incidences where the individuals don't speak English though or is that your practice generally? A. No, that's my practice. Q. Does looking through this paperwork refresh your memory at all as to Medical Services Center of Florida? Q. As you sit here right now, do you recall whether or not you worked with that particular company at all? A. I can't tell you. I mean, I work with so many people and I'm not good with names at all, so -- Q. So you're not picturing a location in your mind even looking at the name and the address of the facility? Q. I'm now marking Exhibit Number, ma'am. (Plaintiffs' Exhibit No., Stock Certificate of Hernandez, was marked for identification.) BY MS. HELLER: Q. And you've probably figured out our time together is going to consist of you looking at a lot of documents and me asking you if you were involved in their

40 add, completion so we'll try to move this along. Looking at this stock certificate, Ms. Knapp, do you recognize your handwriting on it anywhere? Q. Are you able to tell from looking at Exhibit Number if you assisted in the completion of this stock certificate at all? No, I didn't. Q. Would you have assisted in filling out some of the blanks on this form if you would have been involved in that process? Q. So this is something that you may or may not have even signed or -- not signed, may or may not have even filled out in the services you provide or the guidance you provide? A. Correct. spacing Q. Okay. If you would take a look at Exhibit Number, please. (Plaintiffs' Exhibit No., Health Care Licensing Application, was marked for identification.) A. This is me. This is my handwriting. Q. And just as you flip through, if you would identify for me where you see your handwriting. A. All of the pages.

41 Q. So you filled out this form in its entirety? A. Almost all of it. You asked me if my handwriting was, where it was. It's in all of them. Now where it's not, there's parts of it that are not, where people's signatures have to be or, like I said earlier today, where the doctor has to sign, stuff like that, that's where you won't see it. But is my handwriting on every single page? Q. Okay. Yeah. A. But, for example, you see Application Page Number towards the back where it says, looks like medical director. Q. There's what we call a Bates number on the bottom right hand. A. Oh. Q. If you can you tell me that number for the record? A. Like, for example, at Page, you can see where it says medical director where he has added medical director and his signature, that's not my handwriting. Q. What about at the bottom of that same page,? A. Yeah, that's me. Q. Section where Diaz is identified as the president/owner 0 percent interest?

42 A. Correct. That's me. Q. Would you have met with Diaz in completing this form? A. I would have to. Q. Okay. Does this jog your memory at all? A. Not really. I mean, I meet, like I said, with so many people and I'm really, really bad with, like, names and stuff, so -- Q. So as you sit here right now, can you tell me any specifics about who was present when you filled out this form? A. If it's signed by him, then it's him, normally. Q. Him who? A. 0h, I'm sorry. Q. That's okay. So if has signed it and has been described as the 0 percent president or owner, then are you comfortable testifying that he would have been present when this form was completed? A. Correct. Q. Can you tell me the date that this form was completed? A. Okay. The way that it works with the applications is I'll fill it out, okay, now my sections will be done that day. But what happens, like I said, if things need to be like you see, was it Page on yours?

43 If it has to be notarized, I'm not a notary so they have to take it and they have to get it notarized. on the bottom? Q. Okay. You see A. The other page, we we're talking one -- also has to be notarized. And then where the medical director has to sign. So it's not completed once I -- I'll fill out what I can fill out and then it goes to whoever I'm meeting with, in this case it was and then he has responsibility of getting everything else done and then they'll turn it back in to me to make sure that it's going to go out correctly. Q. Okay. And if we go to Bates -- A. Uh-huh. A-ha. (A-ha is like Aha! I have an idea!) Q. -- it appears at least from the affidavit portion that this was signed and notarized on March st of, correct? A. I just see March. I'm sorry. Q. If you see sworn to and subscribed before me this -- A. I just see March. I don't see st. I just see March,. spacing keep together Q. Right. If you look at that entire line, Ms. Knapp, where it says "sworn to and subscribed before me this," that appears to be a one.

44 A. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I see it now. Q. So this was at least notarized on March st,, it appears, correct? A. It appears. I can't tell you for sure because add, I don't know when it was done but if it says March st, then -- spacing Q. Okay. So if you would have provided this invoice on Exhibit the day it was completed, do you know if there were additional services after this that you would have performed? What happened back then is that I would do the application and then I would usually come back about a week, week and a half, maybe two weeks after, hand them the manuals. Once they got the manuals and they had all the information, then I would get paid because I just wanted things to be even on both sides. Q. 0h, I see. A. Do you know what I mean? Q. Yes. A. So that's why you see March st here and then March th here. Q. When someone indicates to you that they are applying for a health care clinic license for a clinic that was formerly an exempt clinic and formerly owned by a medical doctor, do you personally request any sort of

45 proof or verification that a transfer of ownership from the medical provider to the nonmedical person has taken place? A. What do you mean by -- what kind of transfer? Q. For example, let me show you. I'm going to show you what I've marked as Exhibit No.. (Plaintiffs' Exhibit No., Certificate of Exemption, was marked for identification.) BY MS. HELLER: Q. add, Can you tell my what this is Ms. Knapp? A. This is what the state issues, what AHCA issues when it's an exempt facility. Q. And this, can you tell by looking at this when this exemption was issued? A. December, 0. Q. Okay. So Medical Service Center, this clinic we're speaking of, was operating on an exemption, correct? A. If it says, yeah. Q. And exemption means that it was 0 percent owned by a medical provider or at least that representation had been made to AHCA, correct? A. Correct. Q. And then in March of, you were asked to assist Medical Service Center in seeking a health care

46 clinic license, correct? A. Right. Q. Understanding that it was formerly an exempt clinic represented to be wholly owned by a medical provider and now -- Q. -- had represented that he was the 0 percent owner of Medical Service Center -- Q. -- would you in your practice of consulting requested some sort of proof or verification that the ownership of the clinic had transferred from the medical provider to Mr. Perez? A. The only thing that I usually ask for is maybe like a copy of the application that they sent, that was sent in before the exemption application. Q. Okay. A. And this. Q. Okay. So you personally as a consultant do not tangible? require that some sort of tangential proof of transfer of ownership be provided to you before you assist in this process, fair to say? Q. I'm going to show you what's been marked for spacing identification as Exhibit No., Ms. Knapp.

47 (Plaintiffs' Exhibit No., Business Final Closing Documents, was marked for identification.) BY MS. HELLER: Q. And I'm going to ask you to take a look at that. Do you recognize this document? period A. Yes Q. How do you recognize it, ma'am? add, A. It -- okay. With AHCA when clinics are exempt and they're going to go to a standard license, you have add, to show that it's been transferred so this is what -- sorry -- and this is what I use. Q. And when you say you have to show that ownership has been transferred, show who? A. AHCA. Q. Okay. So the agency requires some proof? A. Correct. Q. That there's been a transfer of ownership from the prior medical owner to the new owner? A. Correct. Q. And do they require that proof before they will issue a license? A. Correct. Q. All right. A. Yeah, because this has to go with the

48 0 meaning things that the parties agree to in this document, correct? A. Right. Q. And the terms that we see on this particular exhibit, for example, the purchase price and the different requirements of this sale, would those have been preprinted on that form when you provided them to Medical Service Center of Florida? add, A. It's preprinted but I ask them the information so it's whatever they've given me, is what's put in. Q. Okay. Because you don't know unless someone tells you what the purchase price is, correct? A. Correct. Q. Can you tell me from Medical Service Center of Florida who was it who gave you the specific information that's included on Exhibit? A. It would have to be the owners. Q. And the owners meaning who? A. Sorry. Q. Okay. Are you assuming that because that was your practice, or do you have a specific recollection of providing you that information? That's my practice. Q. So it would be your practice to get that information from the new owner. Is that right?

49 A. Correct. Q. So when it says the total purchase price for all fixtures, furnishings and equipment was $,000, that would have been information that you, correct? A. Correct. provided to Q. Do you or did you in this instance undertake any efforts to verify whether or not $,000 did or did not change hands between the parties? Q. It indicates that the sum was paid in cash, correct? Q. Was that based on information Mr. Perez provided to you? A. That's usually standard. I can't tell you if he told me that or -- I mean, it's usually how it is, that the owners will tell me. Q. Okay. So that's not information you just would have put on the form by yourself without it coming from the owner, correct? spacing Because it has to be signed by everybody. Everybody has to be in agreement and it has to be notarized, so -- Q. And when you say it had to be signed by

50 everybody, what do you mean by everybody? A. The buyer, whoever the new owner is going to be. now. The seller, whoever is the person has the clinic There's two witnesses and notarized. Q. And when you say notarized, does it have to be notarized as to the signature of the seller and the signature of the buyer? A. Correct. Q. There's an indication on here that the property sold hereunder was conveyed by a standard bill of sale duly executed by the seller. Is that standard language you just put in there or is that based on information that you're provided by the new owner? That's the standard. (to match :, : & :) Q. Number three: Until the delivery of the bill of sale, the seller had maintained insurance on said property in the amount that is presently insured. What does that mean? A. When facilities have what they call massage establishment licenses, the State of Florida required you to have insurance on the facility, so that's what that means. Q. Do you know if this particular facility had a massage establishment license?

51 A. Usually we're talking about a PIP facility, part of their treatment for patients is massage and the state requires you to go ahead and have a massage establishment license. Q. Did you verify as to whether or not the seller had maintained any type of insurance on the property? A. In order for you to have your license, your massage establishment license, that has to continue. have to have it and so the liability certificate will You tell you, you know, the effective date and the end date, so -- uncap Q. Would you have -- Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off. A. No, it's okay. Q. Would you have actually looked at the certificate? Q. And inspected it? Q. Would you have confirmed whose name was on it? A. Usually the name that's on it is the facility name. Q. Oh, okay. I see. So is this information that you would have included after you inspected those documents, or is this just standard language that's

52 his obligations herein, all deposits made would have hereunder by the buyer -- oh, wait, I think I messed that up. Try that again. If the buyer had failed to fulfill his obligations herein, all deposits made would have been hereunder by the buyer shall be retained by the seller as liquidated -- A. That's just language that I put in there. Q. Liquidated what? A. Darning. Q. What does that mean? D-A-R-N-I-N-G? What does that mean? A. I got that from an attorney when I first did this a while ago so I can't even tell you. Q. Okay. Number : The seller agreed that this agreement was contingent upon the following conditions: The buyer obtaining a lease on the said premises or that the existing lease was assigned to the buyer. A. Um-hm. Q. Is that standard language that you would have put in there or based upon information you would have received from Mr. Perez? That's standard language which that I put in. Q. Would you have undertaken any efforts to see if

53 the purported seller was even on the lease at the time of the transfer? Q. And then it says: Whereas the seller as the sole owner of shares of stock of Medical Service Center Incorporated, desired to sell shares to the buyer. Said transfer of stock has occurred on the final closing date which is August th,, for this transaction and the transfer of stock. That date August th,, that's in there, where would that date have come from? A. That date is the date of the inspection, the AHCA inspection because once you pass your inspection, then you have to go and you have to send the closing document showing that the original owner's no longer the one word owner any more because it's contingent on the AHCA inspection making sure that everything goes through okay. Q. Okay. Do you actually make sure that stock has been transferred -- Q. -- according to this agreement? Note: "Any more" means any additional; "Anymore" means any longer. Q. 0 percent of the stocks of said business are now owned by Diaz. And that's information that you wrote in there, I assume? Note: Reporter preference about which rule wins out: all percentages being written in digits or not starting a sentence with digits

54 for OSHA Compliance Consultants? Q. I'm going to ask you to have a look at Exhibit Number. fill in uncap (Plaintiffs' Exhibit No., Document Labeled Bates MSCF-00, was marked for identification.) BY MS. HELLER: Q. And if you can flip through, do you recognize what Exhibit No. is, ma'am? A. It's a state document, a corporation document, an amendment. Q. As part of your consulting services at OSHA Compliance Services, did you assist in the filling out of this type of paperwork? A. Of this type of paperwork, yes. This paperwork specifically, no. Q. How do you know you were not involved in the completion of Exhibit? A. My handwriting. Q. It would have appeared on here had you been involved? Q. And you're sure that would have been your practice, correct?

55 A. Positive. Q. And you can put that aside. Thank you. A. Where? Q. Just lay it on the stack. A. Yeah? Okay. Q. Yes. Perfect. Thanks. Take a look at Exhibit, please. A. This is me. Q. How do you know you were involved in the completion of Exhibit? A. My handwriting. Q. Go ahead and flip through, Ms. Knapp, and if you would identify for us where your handwriting appears. uncap (Plaintiffs' Exhibit No., Document Labeled Bates MSCF-0, was marked for identification.) spacing THE WITNESS: Everywhere. Everywhere except for -- like I said before, how do we do this now? On the bottom? BY MS. HELLER: Q. Yes, there's letters and then numbers so you can identify it with the letters and then the numbers. A. You want me to do the whole? So it's MSCF-0 on the bottom where you see the signature, that's not me. period Q. Okay,