TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – After hours on Thursday night, the Tallahassee Branch of the NAACP and several Tallahassee residents sued the city, seeking to void the sale of what used to be the capital city’s municipal hospital.
The plaintiffs allege that Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare would be operating without a valid license if a new lease isn’t signed between TMH and Florida State University, after the city transferred the hospital’s assets last month.
FSU and TMH have been negotiating 17 points over a new lease that would officially create “FSU Health.” Whether state or local appointees makeup a majority of the board has remained a major sticking point.
“The City’s March 11, 2026, action places, at risk, the Medicare/Medicaid provider agreements under which TMH operates, as well as related provider agreements. These agreements are linked to TMH’s license to operate the hospital,” wrote Jack McLean, the lawyer for the NAACP and himself a former mayor of the capital city.
Previously, McLean said the transfer agreement “did not protect poor people.”
“The NAACP members are affected by the City’s March 11, 2026, illegal transfer of the hospital assets to Florida State University because the City failed to comply with the statutory “inability to pay” healthcare provision and the healthcare economic development trust fund protections of Section 155.40, Florida Statutes,” McLean wrote in the lawsuit.
An FSU spokesperson said there is a use and restriction agreement between the City and FSU that says charity care must be maintained as a requirement for hospital use.
“FSU shall ensure that the Charity Care Policy is continuously maintained as a component of the Hospital Use in a manner consistent with or more generous than the indigent care requirements set forth in the City-TMH Lease Agreement,” that use and restriction agreement reads.
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The plaintiffs asked a judge to issue an order to “preliminarily and/or permanently enjoining the City from proceeding to closing on the proposed transfer of the hospital assets unless and until the City fully complies with (the law),” McLean wrote.
The potential creation of FSU Health has been seen as a major victory for the majority of the city commission, including Mayor John Dailey.
In exchange for buying the hospital, FSU agreed to pay the city $109 million paid over 30 years on top of infrastructure investments and a commitment to care for the poor.
In the end, the city and FSU want to create an academic health center, considered a step above a municipal hospital because of access to funding and the ability to recruit specialist doctors.
This story will be updated as we learn more.
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