Jack Carter sued the state after it placed Southlake Nursing and Rehabilitation Center into receivership because of unpaid bills and missing Medicaid payment records. The Circuit Court jury deliberated for 3 1/2 hours before delivering the award.

"He's always very staunchly believed he would win," said Carter's attorney, Jim Rinaman Jr. "The jury understood that AHCA overreached itself and acted improperly. "

Carter was serving on Southlake's board in 1998 when it developed financial problems. He resigned and his company, MIED Inc. , soon bought the facility.

His plan to turn a profit depended in part on an increase in the fee the state would pay to the facility for taking Medicaid patients.

The state ruled that Carter was ineligible for the increase because he had been on the previous board. It also said he had an equity stake in the nonprofit company that previously owned Southlake because he had a $5 million judgment against it for loans he had made that weren't repaid.

Without the increased payments, Carter was unable to turn Southlake around and the state seized it.

"I think the jury believed he could have come in there and done it if (the state had) left him alone," Rinaman said.

Dan Dearing, senior assistant attorney general, said before the verdict that the key question for the jury was whether state health care administration officials acted reasonably in forcing the center into receivership.

Rinaman said he expects the state will appeal the award, adding that even if the verdict holds up, he may have to ask the Legislature to authorize an appropriation to pay the award.

Carter, 74, is no longer interested in operating the nursing home, which is still in receivership, but hopes to collect the award to settle several judgments against him as a result of his ownership of MIED.