The company that runs P.G. Senior Living gets fined for pulling fliers from residents’ mailboxes.

In March, residents who live inside Pacific Grove Senior Living became alarmed after learning that the company that previously operated their building, Pacifica Senior Living Management, had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California. Residents worried that somehow their homes might be at risk, despite assurances from corporate managers that wasn’t the case.

The fact that the new management company in charge, Heritage Resource Group, is run by mostly the same people as the previous company going through bankruptcy didn’t help allay residents’ fears.

Seeking to find out for themselves what was going on, residents organized a bankruptcy hearing watch party in a common area on May 19. A flier was created with details and distributed to residents’ mailboxes, located in the lobby of the building. The fliers soon disappeared, pulled by staff on the orders of corporate managers, according to a resident who spoke to staff.

Residents protested, but say staff members refused to put the fliers back. After more protests, the watch party was allowed to take place in the common area.

“This is CENSORSHIP,” a resident wrote afterward in an email to Joanne Getas, an ombudsman from the Alliance on Aging, adding that it was a “violation of our constitutional right to information… We can’t have a dictatorship here.”

The incident was reported to the California Department of Social Services, the state agency responsible for regulating residential care facilities for the elderly. On June 5, an investigator from DSS visited PGSL and interviewed staff and residents, according to a report filed on July 31.

“Based on observations and interviews, the preponderance of evidence standard has been met, therefore the allegation is SUBSTANTIATED,” the report reads. The deficiencies listed included violations of a state statute that protects residents’ rights as citizens and as residents of the facility. The statute requires that they “shall be free from interference, coercion, discrimination, and retaliation in exercising their rights.”

The executive director refused to sign the investigators’ report and told her the company would be filing an appeal. The company was fined $250, a DSS spokesperson says, although it’s on hold until the appeal is completed. A company official did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, bankruptcy proceedings are ongoing. PSLM’s path to bankruptcy began last year, after losing court cases by residents in other California facilities, or their families, resulting in multi-million dollar judgments against the company. PSLM liquidated all contracts with its senior care facilities and a new company was formed. When it filed for bankruptcy on March 24, PSLM listed 70 creditors with estimated liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million.

According to court documents, as of Oct. 10, the bankruptcy trustee had collected $895,000 from the sale of company assets.