Mealey's Elder Law : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Elder Law

December 13, 2023
Stay Granted In Elder Abuse Suit Over Failure To Follow California Insurance Code

FRESNO, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge on Dec. 12 issued a stay in putative class action asserting claims for elder abuse and breach of contract related to a life insurer’s violations of provisions of the California Insurance Code by failing to provide notice of policies lapse or termination, finding that “good cause exists” to grant the stay pending the outcome of two Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals cases with “dispositive issues germane to this case.”
December 12, 2023
Arizona High Court Affirms Judgment For Beneficiary In Undue Influence Dispute

PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court on Dec. 11 affirmed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment for a beneficiary in a suit filed by a decedent’s niece claiming undue influence related to a deed leaving properties to the beneficiary, finding that the appellate court erred when reversing the trial court decision and determining that an issue of fact remained as to whether the beneficiary exercised undue influence over the decedent.
December 11, 2023
High Court Denies Cert To Care Home Owner Subject To $38M Fraud Forfeiture Order

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 11 denied certiorari to a man arguing that the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in rejecting his argument that he had a right to a jury determination regarding his $38.7 million forfeiture order related to his fraud, bribery and money laundering convictions in a health care scheme involving bribing physicians to have patients entered into assisted living and skilled nursing facilities he owned.
December 08, 2023
Elder Abuse Suit Against LTC Insurer Tossed For Not Following Reimbursement Terms

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed without leave to amend a bad faith, breach of contract, anticipatory breach of contract and elder abuse suit filed against a couple’s long-term care (LTC) insurer for its failure to cover the wife’s claim for benefits, finding that “[t]he fundamental problem with their claims is that the insurance policy in question is a reimbursement policy” and the couple failed to incur or submit covered expenses for reimbursement.
December 08, 2023
2nd Circuit: Insurer Not Obligated To Defend Lawyer In Underlying Elder Abuse Suit

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 7 affirmed a district court’s grant of judgment on the pleadings to an insurer seeking a declaration that it is not obligated to defend or indemnify a law firm and former partner accused of malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, elder abuse and fraud in an underlying suit related to a land sale to the former partner’s company, finding that the lower court correctly determined that the policy exclusion related to activities of another business applied.
December 08, 2023
Judgment Issued For Care Home In Wrongful Death Suit Lacking Causation Evidence

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Kansas federal judge sustained a summary judgment motion filed by a skilled nursing facility in a negligence and wrongful death suit filed against it by an estate administrator for a former resident who died after falling at the facility, finding that the expert testimony provided by the administrator fails to establish that the facility’s lack of reasonable care caused the former resident’s injury and subsequent death.
December 07, 2023
EEOC Granted Summary Judgment In Wage Age Bias Case Against School District

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted summary judgment to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in an age discrimination case accusing a school district of limiting annual pay increases of teachers older than 45 to avoid a pension-contribution surcharge pursuant to a provision in a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
December 06, 2023
9th Circuit Reverses, Remands $5.2M Settlement Of Tinder Age-Bias Class Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 5 reversed and remanded a $5.2 million settlement to resolve claims accusing a dating app of discriminatory age-based pricing in violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act and California’s unfair competition law (UCL), ruling in favor of objectors who contended that the class representative was inadequate.
December 04, 2023
Drug Companies: Procedural Focus Belies Government’s Weakness In Drug-Pricing Case

WILMINGTON, Del. — Briefing by the government on its recent drug price negotiation law focuses on procedural issues because it lacks footing for an actual argument on the merits, a drugmakers say in a Dec. 1 brief to a federal judge in Delaware arguing that it is clearly injured by the unlawful application of the law, which it says will remove incentives to research and develop new drugs.
December 01, 2023
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing After Split Panel Vote In ADA Suit Against Care Home

SAN FRANCISCO — After one judge of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel voted to grant a petition for rehearing en banc, rehearing was denied when no Ninth Circuit judge requested a vote for en banc consideration of the court’s decision affirming a district court’s ruling in favor of a nonprofit advocating against housing discrimination in its suit against a nursing home alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for the nursing home’s alleged refusal to provide an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter to a fictitious prospective resident.
December 01, 2023
Class Certification Granted In Suit Over Deficient Long-Term Care Waiver Services

CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire federal judge granted class certification to disabled persons who, on behalf of similarly situated persons, sued the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NHDHHS), asserting violations of their rights under the 14th Amendment, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act and the Medicaid Act for failure to provide them with adequate community-based long-term care services through the Choices for Independence (CFI) Medicaid Waiver, finding, in part, that the disabled persons showed “that the defendants’ actions apply generally to the class.”
December 01, 2023
New York Panel Reverses, Dismisses All Claims In COVID Suit Against Nursing Home

ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York appellate court on Nov. 30 reversed a lower court decision that denied a nursing home’s motion to dismiss all claims against it in an estate executor’s suit after a decedent’s COVID-19-related death at the facility, finding that the nursing home was entitled to immunity pursuant to a since-repealed New York state law that provided protections to health care providers related to their treatment of persons during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
November 28, 2023
Aging, Health Care Amici Throw Support Behind Medicare Drug Negotiation Law

WILMINGTON, Del. — In a trio of amicus curiae briefs, health care and aging experts and advocates told a federal judge in Delaware that a recently enacted Medicare drug negotiation program falls within well-established powers to regulate prices the program and others within the government pay and will help reign in the “unsustainable increase in prescription drug prices.”
November 28, 2023
Panel Affirms Order Refusing To Compel Arbitration In Death Suit Against Care Home

LIMA, Ohio — An Ohio appellate court on Nov. 27 affirmed a lower court order that denied a motion by a long-term care (LTC) facility to stay a negligence and wrongful death suit filed against it and compel arbitration, finding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the arbitration agreement the decedent signed when admitted to the assisted living portion of the facility did not apply to her later admission to the skilled nursing division of the facility.
November 27, 2023
S.D. High Court Reinstates Undue Influence Jury Verdict In Daughter’s Will Contest

PIERRE, S.D. — The South Dakota Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s ruling setting aside a jury’s verdict of undue influence in a daughter’s challenge to a will naming her father’s neighbor as his sole beneficiary, finding that there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s finding of undue influence by the beneficiary and that the lower court abused its discretion in granting the beneficiary’s motion for a new trial.
November 22, 2023
Montana High Court Affirms Order Reopening Estate Over Share Purchase Agreement

HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court on Nov. 21 affirmed a lower court order granting an estate representative’s motion to reopen an estate, finding that because the representative “reasonably” determined that a stock pledge agreement (SPA) between the decedent and his grandson had no value when the estate was closed, her later discovery that the SPA had value constitutes a “subsequently discovered” asset pursuant to Montana law, permitting the reopening.
November 22, 2023
Alabama High Court Reverses Judgment For Estate In Death Suit Against Hospitals

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Supreme Court reversed a trial court’s judgment for an estate in a medical malpractice and wrongful death suit filed against hospitals after an 85-year-old woman died after receiving treatment there for a pressure ulcer, finding that the trial court erred by denying the hospitals’ renewed motion for judgment on the law, asserting that the estate failed to establish proximate cause that the woman’s death, purportedly from sepsis, resulted from their breach of care.
November 21, 2023
Suit Claiming Skilled Nursing Facilities Violated FCA Tossed After Parties Settle

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge dismissed the government’s claims against six skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), their owner and their management company two days after the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it entered into a $45.6 million consent judgment with the SNFs and related parties in a suit alleging that they violated the federal False Claims Act (FCA) and California False Claims Act in submitting false claims to Medicare by paying kickbacks to physicians in exchange for the physicians referring patients to the SNFs.
November 17, 2023
Judge Directs Recalculation In ERISA Suit Over ‘Leveled’ Retirement Benefits

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Saying he denied both parties’ motions for judgment as a matter of law, an Ohio federal judge directed recalculation of a retired UPS driver’s benefits in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over pension benefits that the retiree opted to receive in the form of the “Social Security Leveling Option.”
November 16, 2023
4th Circuit Dismisses Appeal In ERISA Case Involving Retiree Benefit Changes

RICHMOND, Va. — Saying in a Nov. 15 unpublished per curiam opinion that the challenged ruling “is neither a final order nor an appealable interlocutory or collateral order,” a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel dismissed an appeal involving Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims over changes to retiree health benefits.
November 16, 2023
DOJ Announces $45.6M Judgment In FCA Suit Against Skilled Nursing Facilities

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Nov. 15 announced that six skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), their owner and their management company have entered into a $45.6 million consent judgment to resolve allegations that they violated the federal False Claims Act (FCA) and California False Claims Act in submitting false claims to Medicare by paying kickbacks to physicians in exchange for the physicians referring patients to the SNFs.
November 16, 2023
2 Estates’ Class Suit Accuses UnitedHealth Of Care Denial By AI

MINNEAPOLIS — An insurer illegally employs artificial intelligence (AI) to deny elderly insureds medically necessary care based on a model that the insurer knows “has a 90% error rate,” two estates allege in a class complaint filed in a federal court in Minnesota.
November 15, 2023
Magistrate Recommends Not Striking Expert Reports In Care Home Negligence Suit

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina federal magistrate judge on Nov. 14 recommended denying a skilled nursing facility’s summary judgment motion and motion to strike expert witness reports in a negligence suit against the facility by the estate of a former resident, finding that the estate has shown that failure to comply with the expert disclosure deadline was harmless and there is no basis for summary judgment without excluding the expert reports.
November 14, 2023
Judgment Issued For Mortgagee In Row With Estate Administrator Over Fire Loss

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge granted judgment in favor of a mortgage company in an estate administrator’s breach of contract suit against it over failure to return $312,034.34 in fire loss draft funds to the estate, finding that because the company’s limited time offer to settle the loan balance did not include an agreement to return the loss draft funds, the administrator failed to prove his breach of contract claim.
November 13, 2023
California Panel Upholds Decision Denying Return Of Property To Matriarch’s Trust

FRESNO, Calif. — A California appellate court affirmed a lower court’s order denying an estate administrator’s petition to return to a family trust property held by family members, finding that the lower court correctly determined that the estate administrator failed to meet his burden to establish that his deceased mother, the family matriarch, made the transfers as a result of undue influence.