HEALTH

NME Sues Hillhaven Executives: National Medical Enterprise Inc. has filed suit against the executives of Hillhaven Corp., claiming they took a series of covert steps to obstruct an unwelcome tender offer. NME, Hillhaven’s largest shareholder, made the allegations against the Tacoma, Wash., chain of nursing homes in a suit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Earlier this month, Hillhaven rejected a $1.5-billion buyout offer from Horizon Healthcare Corp., an Albuquerque, N.M., operator of long-term care facilities. NME, a Santa Monica operator of acute-care hospitals, wanted to raise cash to buy another hospital chain and had agreed to sell its 8.87 million Hillhaven shares to Horizon.