Mealey's Elder Law
-
August 02, 2024
Patient Says Rehab Hospital Ignored Directives, Resulting In Leg Amputation
INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana man has filed a federal complaint against the operators of his skilled nursing facility, alleging that they failed to follow medical directives that a wound vacuum (wound vac) be placed over his three amputated toes, resulting in his lower leg being amputated.
-
August 01, 2024
Amici Urge High Court Review Of Ruling Denying Care Facility’s Arbitration Bid
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Groups representing long-term care providers and defense attorneys filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court urging it to grant certiorari to review a California Supreme Court decision that affirmed the denial of a skilled nursing facility and its owner’s efforts to compel arbitration of an elder abuse and negligence suit filed against them related to a former resident’s fall and injuries.
-
August 01, 2024
Texas Panel Again Finds Expert Report Deficient In Nursing Home Negligence Suit
TYLER, Texas — Finding that the causation opinions in an expert’s amended report “suffer from the same deficiencies as his original report,” a Texas appellate panel affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of an estate representative’s health care liability suit against a nursing home where the decedent lived.
-
July 30, 2024
North Dakota High Court Cites Undue Influence, Reverses Elder Abuse Assets Ruling
BISMARCK, N.D. — In reversing a trial court decision, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled that the lower court erred in its application of law by not applying the presumption of undue influence in a case involving a woman’s personal use of assets owned by her stepfather, for whom she held power of attorney.
-
July 29, 2024
Mich. Panel: 401(k), Insurance Can Satisfy Estate Claim In Wrongful Death Shooting
DETROIT — In cases consolidated on appeal, a Michigan appellate court affirmed the portion of a probate court’s order allowing recovery of life insurance proceeds but reversed the portion of the probate court’s order not allowing recovery of the proceeds of a 401(k) account in a wrongful death judgment owed to a mother’s estate against the estate of her daughter implicated in a murder/suicide, finding that both the 401(k) and life insurance proceeds were available to satisfy the judgment.
-
July 26, 2024
Hospital Appeals Order Reducing Verdict To $4M In Estate’s Wrongful Death Suit
BRONX, N.Y. — A hospital sued for wrongful death and medical malpractice regarding its purported failure to diagnose a fatal medical condition of a 63-year-old man has appealed a New York state justice’s ruling reducing the jury’s verdict against it from $6.1 million to $4 million and ordering a new trial but refusing to set aside the verdict as against the weight of evidence.
-
July 25, 2024
Hospice Files Defamation Suit Against Anonymous Google Reviewers
LOS ANGELES — Alleging that it is being targeted by a business competitor who has “coordinated” the posting of “fake” negative reviews online, a hospice filed a lawsuit in California state court asserting claims against 1,000 John Does who posted the negative reviews for defamation and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
-
July 23, 2024
California High Court Denies Request To Publish Opinion In Wildfire Coverage Suit
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court denied a homeowners insurer’s petition to publish an appeals court’s opinion that ruled that it did not breach the policy or the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and did not commit financial elder abuse because it paid the proper insureds “all (if not more than)” it had a duty to pay under the policy coverages for dwelling repairs, personal property damage and temporary additional living expenses for their property damage caused by the Woolsey Fire.
-
July 12, 2024
Panel Vacates Ruling For Doctor In Negligence Row Over Care Home Resident’s Death
ATLANTA — A split Georgia appellate court vacated and remanded a lower court’s order that granted summary judgment to a radiologist in a suit alleging that he breached the standard of care by incorrectly diagnosing a nursing home resident’s injury as a brain bleed, finding that fact questions remain regarding the issue of causation and whether the doctor provided emergency medical care.
-
July 11, 2024
Washington Panel Affirms Adult Protection Order Against Octogenarian’s Daughter
SPOKANE, Wash. — A Washington appellate court affirmed a lower court’s grant of a vulnerable adult protection order (VAPO) against one of an octogenarian’s daughters, finding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the octogenarian had sufficient notice of the VAPO proceeding regarding her daughter.
-
July 11, 2024
Care Facility, Owner Seek High Court Review Of Ruling Affirming Arbitration Denial
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California skilled nursing facility and its owner/operator filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of a California Supreme Court ruling affirming the denial of their efforts to compel arbitration of an elder abuse and negligence suit filed against the petitioners related to a former resident’s fall and injuries.
-
July 10, 2024
Judge: No Preliminary Injunction In Case Alleging Securities Fraud, Elder Abuse
OAKLAND, Calif. — A woman who claims that she and her late husband were fraudulently persuaded by a man and his financial institutions to invest in two real estate entities, allegedly violating federal securities laws in the process, failed to show that she would suffer irreparable harm without preliminary injunctive relief, a California federal judge held, denying her motion.
-
July 10, 2024
UPS Granted Summary Judgment In Workers’ ‘Dead End’ Jobs Suit
OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted summary judgment to United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) in a case by three female workers who alleged that they were relegated to work in the back and “dead end” job opportunities due to their gender, age and disabilities, finding in part that the workers were not “diligent in their discovery” and failed to present sufficient evidence of their claims.
-
July 09, 2024
Court Deputy Files Scheduling Order In Malpractice Suit Against Rehab Home
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — At the direction of an Arkansas federal court clerk, a courtroom deputy filed an order outlining deadlines for discovery and a proposed trial date in a man’s medical malpractice suit against the nursing and rehabilitation center he alleges failed to provide him with the appropriate standard of care for his pressure ulcers, leading to infection and colostomy surgery.
-
July 09, 2024
Ohio Panel Reverses Judgment For Care Home, Finds Fact Questions Remain For Jury
CANTON, Ohio — An Ohio appellate court on July 8 reversed and remanded a lower court’s ruling that granted summary judgment to a nursing home in a wrongful death and negligence suit against it, finding that questions of fact remain for a jury regarding whether “proper monitoring” of a former resident’s urinary tract infection (UTI) would have prevented her death from sepsis.
-
July 09, 2024
Split Florida Panel Affirms Order Tossing Bid To Modify Grandparent Visitation
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A split Florida appellate court affirmed a lower court’s judgment dismissing parents’ petition seeking to block a maternal grandmother’s court-ordered visitation with their child, finding that the parents failed to provide evidence to show that modifying the grandmother’s visitation was in the child’s best interest.
-
July 05, 2024
11th Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment In AD&D Row Over Vanished Mountain Climber
ATLANTA — Concluding in part “that a reasonable mountain climber would have recognized a high likelihood of injury or death,” an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed and remanded summary judgment for an insured’s sons in a dispute over accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) benefits.
-
July 03, 2024
Judge Approves Death Settlement Against Care Home, Apportions Distributions
ST. LOUIS — A Missouri federal judge on July 2 approved a confidential settlement agreement in a wrongful death suit filed by a decedent’s daughter against a nursing home, finding “that the balance of interests in this case favors” keeping the settlement terms confidential and that the daughter’s proposed apportionment to all three of the decedent’s children “is just and fair.”
-
July 03, 2024
Death Suit Against Memory Care Facility Assigned To Magistrate For Mediation
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri federal magistrate judge on July 2 was assigned to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) through a notice of inclusion in a mediation program in a wrongful death suit filed the previous day against a memory care facility and a related entity asserting that the defendants acted negligently in failing to implement safety procedures and provide adequate staffing to prevent a former’s resident’s “avoidable” fall, which purportedly led to his death.
-
July 02, 2024
11th Circuit Remands For Claims To Be Stayed In Care Home Licensure Class Suit
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a district court’s judgment with instructions to stay the claims in a putative class action filed by the representatives of former residents against the Florida skilled nursing facilities where they lived alleging that the facilities fraudulently obtained their licenses, finding that the plaintiffs waived objections to a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation that the district court adopted.
-
June 28, 2024
High Court Overrules Chevron Deference, Changes Standard For Regulatory Review
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 voted 6-3 to overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference as incompatible with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations, changing governing precedent for federal courts reviewing agencies’ regulatory actions.
-
June 28, 2024
N.J. Jury Awards $600K To Estate In Wrongful Death Suit Over Improper Restraint
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — A New Jersey state court jury returned a $600,000 verdict against a behavioral health facility and its employees related to the death of a patient who incurred blunt force trauma to his head and spine when he was improperly restrained, attributing 35% fault to the mental health technician who restrained the decedent and 65% fault to his supervisor.
-
June 27, 2024
Parties Settle Wrongful Death Suit Over Alligator Attack In 55-Plus Community
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — The personal representative of the estate of a Florida retirement community resident who died after an alligator attacked her near her home settled a wrongful death suit filed in a Florida state court against the company operating the community, asserting that the woman’s death resulted from the company’s negligence in failing to remove the alligators or to warn of the danger caused by them.
-
June 26, 2024
Settlement Proposed By Canal Owner In Suit Over Alligators Killing Octogenarian
SARASOTA, Fla. — A nonprofit corporation that owns property containing a canal where alligators attacked and killed an 80-year-old woman filed a notice of serving a proposal for settlement in a Florida state court after the corporation and multiple parties were sued by the decedent’s estate for wrongful death, negligence and strict and vicarious liability related to their failure to remove the alligators that purportedly posed a risk to nearby residents.
-
June 25, 2024
Texas Panel Affirms Ruling Dismissing ‘Baseless’ Pleading In Probate Dispute
EL PASO, Texas — A Texas appellate court affirmed a probate court’s dismissal of a son’s application to probate a will his mother executed in Mexico after the court previously admitted to probate a will she executed in Texas, finding that the probate court correctly dismissed the son’s application to probate the Mexico will as “baseless in law.”