FirstHealth of the Carolinas and Richmond Memorial Hospital are still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The N.C. Supreme Court dismissed Hamlet Hospital‘s lawsuit against Richmond County, FirstHealth and Richmond Memorial Hospital on Oct. 6, apparently removing the last obstacle to FirstHealth’s purchase of the Rockingham hospital for $44 million.

But FirstHealth President and CEO Charles T. Frock said a “30-day window” remains during which the owner of the Hamlet hospital could request reconsideration of this ruling.

That means that the parties to the sale can’t be sure of a final disposition of the court case, which has dragged on for more than two years, until Nov. 5.

However, Frock continued, “We will proceed with our preparations to finalize the acquisition. Subject to federal, state, and lender approvals, we tentatively expect this transaction to close in the first quarter of 2001.”

FirstHealth officials and members of the Richmond Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees signed a letter of intent in July 1998 to proceed with negotiations toward the sale of the hospital to FirstHealth.

A few days later, Health Management Associates of Naples, Fla., parent company of Hamlet Hospital (now Sandhills Regional Medical Center), offered $55 million for the hospital — $45 million to the hospital board and $10 million to Richmond County.

When the hospital board rejected that offer — board Chairman Robert Hutchinson said the board was determined to sell the nonprofit hospital to a nonprofit buyer — Hamlet Hospital filed suit, claiming that the negotiations to sell the hospital to FirstHealth violated state statutes and the North Carolina Constitution.