PORTLAND — Parkview Adventist Medical Center wants its land back.

The hospital that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June has alleged its creditor and corporate manager, Central Maine Healthcare Corp., was wrong to transfer certain land in Brunswick and assets out of Parkview’s ownership during a time when the smaller hospital was unable to pay its bills and reached out to CMHC for help.

The dispute over whether Parkview or CMHC, which manages Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, is the rightful owner of land and property owned by the Brunswick hospital until 2013 comes as Parkview’s closest competitor, Mid Coast Hospital, plans to buy the 55-bed Parkview.

George Marcus, Parkview’s attorney, said the land in question is not involved in the sale and won’t affect Mid Coast’s plan to acquire Parkview. 

Mid Coast Hospital spokesman Steve Trockman said regulatory approval would not be required for its purchase of Parkview, which he said ceased to be a licensed hospital two days after it filed for bankruptcy and shut down its emergency and inpatient care units.

In the new court filing connected with the bankruptcy, Parkview alleged CMHC mismanaged the smaller hospital and that the $5.6 million loan the Lewiston hospital network granted Parkview in 2008 should be rendered invalid because it was not properly approved by nonprofit Parkview’s board of directors. The loan term was later extended out to 2018, totaling about $8.1 million.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization by Parkview is an effort to disentangle itself from its relationship with CMHC, which started with the loan in 2008, at a time when Parkview’s attorney wrote the hospital was unable to pay its bills.

Parkview, in the latest filing, has asked the court for an award of at least $30 million, double the $15.7 million in land and contracts it claims should belong to the bankruptcy estate and not CMHC.

That includes about $5.2 million in land and about $10.5 million in contracts and service agreements it argues were improperly transferred to CMHC or its affiliates, including Bridgton Hospital, which was named as a defendant in the adversary filing.

The adversary filing by Parkview this week alleges 10 counts of violations of Maine’s bankruptcy code, with three related to the transfer of Parkview’s property in 2013.

The counts include a charge that CMHC mismanaged the hospital and that CMHC was wrong in transferring $10.5 million in contracts and service agreements away from Parkview, dating back to 2008.

Parkview alleges several transfers were not appropriate because CMHC was acting as the manager of the smaller hospital, giving it insider status. That means CMHC had control over Parkview’s finances and, by federal bankruptcy law, that transfers occurring up to two years before the bankruptcy filing could be subject to recovery by the bankruptcy estate.

CMHC spokesman Chuck Gill said last month that his organization’s leadership had no knowledge of the bankruptcy plan until it was filed, and they were alerted to the filing by email from their own employees working at Parkview.

CMHC’s formal answer to the allegations from Parkview are due to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland by Aug. 24, one month from a summons sent to CMHC and Bridgton Hospital on Thursday.