Mealey's Elder Law

  • May 07, 2024

    Pa. Panel Affirms Judgment In Estate Row Between Decedent’s Husband And Brother

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania appellate court affirmed a lower court’s judgment in favor of a decedent’s husband, finding that the lower court correctly determined that Philadelphia’s rental license requirements were inapplicable to the husband’s ejectment action against the decedent’s brother because the decedent’s daughter was an owner of the property and not required to obtain a rental license for a tenant who is a family member.

  • May 07, 2024

    Justice Dismisses COVID Death Suit Against Care Home, Cites Health Law Immunity

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York state court justice dismissed a negligence and wrongful death suit filed against a nursing home by the estate of a former resident who died from COVID-19, finding that the New York state Legislature intended the repeal of a liability-limiting statute for health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic to be prospective rather than retroactive.

  • May 07, 2024

    Illinois School District Will Pay More Than $200,000 To End EEOC Age Bias Suit

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois issued an opinion and order approving a consent decree between an Illinois school district and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under which the district will pay $206,301 to end claims that it limited annual pay increases of teachers older than 45 to avoid a pension-contribution surcharge pursuant to a provision in a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

  • May 07, 2024

    Tech Firm Must Provide Records In Age Discrimination, Retaliation Lawsuit

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge largely granted a plaintiff’s motion to compel further discovery responses from his former employer, finding that “liberal civil discovery rules” were appropriate to permit the plaintiff to find support for his allegations of a companywide practice of discrimination, as well as the claim that he was retaliated against for reporting illegal behavior by a company executive.

  • May 03, 2024

    Insurer’s Dismissal Bid Granted In Estate’s Suit Seeking $4M Default Judgment

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina federal judge dismissed with prejudice an estate’s bad faith suit against an insurer to enforce a $4 million default judgment the estate obtained against a nursing home regarding attempted sexual assault of a former resident, finding that the policy issued to the insured, a health care limited liability company, does not cover claims made against the nursing home, which is a purported subsidiary of the company.

  • May 03, 2024

    Discovery Sought In Abuse Suit Against Care Home Over Demeaning Snapchat Videos

    LEWISBURG, Pa. — The attorney-in-fact for a resident of a personal care home moved a Pennsylvania state court to compel discovery in a negligence suit against the care home, related entities, administrators and staff, alleging that the care-dependent resident incurred abuse when staff purportedly posed the resident and took photos and videos of her that were uploaded to Snapchat “for no legitimate reason other than to demean” her.

  • April 30, 2024

    California Nursing Home Chain Settles COVID-Related Medicare Fraud Claims For $7M

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a California-based chain of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and two of its executives agreed to pay  $7,084,000 to settle a federal False Claims Act (FCA) suit related to alleged fraudulent billing for a higher level of skilled care than needed under Medicare Part A for facility residents who did not test positive for COVID-19 but were near a person who did, thereby fraudulently increasing the SNFs Medicare revenue.

  • April 29, 2024

    Maryland Panel Vacates Order Denying Stay In Foreclosure Action Against Estate

    ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland appellate court vacated and remanded a lower court order denying a decedent’s estate’s motion to stay or dismiss a foreclosure action filed against it by a trust seeking to foreclose on a residential property owned by the estate, finding that the trust lacks the right to foreclose because it does not have the appropriate revolving credit license.

  • April 24, 2024

    Dismissal Stipulated To In LTC Insurance Coverage Row Over Chronically Ill Status

    PHILADELPHIA — An insured who sued her insurer, a third-party insurance administration provider and related parties stipulated to dismissal of most of her claims against the third-party provider in her suit seeking coverage for long-term care (LTC) and home health expenses after her insurer denied her claims upon determining that she was no longer chronically ill.

  • April 24, 2024

    Panel Affirms Award Of IRA To Decedent’s Ex-Wife As Not Invalidated By Divorce

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri appellate court on April 23 affirmed a lower court’s judgment awarding a decedent’s ex-wife the proceeds of his individual retirement account (IRA) for which he named her as the primary beneficiary before they divorced, finding that though the divorce decree released the ex-wife’s claims to inherit through the probate estate, it did not “limit her ability to receive proceeds from Decedent through a non-probate transfer.”

  • April 23, 2024

    Panel Remands Negligence Suit Against ‘Misclassified’ Assisted Living Facility

    CINCINNATI — An Ohio appellate court reversed in part and remanded a breach of contract and negligence suit filed against an assisted living facility by a former resident, finding that the trial court “erred as a matter of law” when it “misclassified” the facility as a residential care facility and granted summary judgment to the facility on a resident’s claim for violations of a nursing home resident’s rights.

  • April 22, 2024

    Panel: Arbitration Provision Is Not Enforceable As Signed By Health Care Surrogate

    TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida appellate court on April 19 reversed and remanded a lower court’s order compelling arbitration in a negligence and wrongful death suit filed against a nursing home, finding that because the person signing the admission agreement on behalf of the deceased former resident signed as her health care surrogate (HCS) rather than her attorney-in-fact, the admission agreement’s arbitration provision is not enforceable.

  • April 19, 2024

    Car Dealerships Will Pay $325,000 To End EEOC Disability, Age Bias Suit

    TEXARKANA, Texas — A Texas company that owns car dealerships will pay $325,000 and provide other relief to settle a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a Texas federal court alleging that the employer fired a senior sales executive to avoid medical costs related to his cancer diagnosis, the EEOC announced.

  • April 17, 2024

    Drug Pricing Suit Not Subject To Medicare Process, Appellants Tell 5th Circuit

    SAN ANTONIO — The government holds a “constitutionally dubious” position in a challenge to the Medicare drug price negotiation law, and a federal judge erred in dismissing on the grounds that the claim is subject to the Medicare Act channeling provision, appellants tell the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an appellant brief.

  • April 11, 2024

    Nursing Home Counsel Enters Appearance In Estate’s $50K Negligence, Survival Suit

    MEDIA, Pa. — Legal counsel representing a skilled nursing facility (SNF) and related entities entered an appearance in a Pennsylvania state court after the estate of a former resident filed a complaint against them asserting claims for negligence, survival and wrongful death for the defendants’ alleged failure to “timely treat” pneumonia that led to the former resident’s death.

  • April 11, 2024

    Federal Judge Issues Final Forfeiture Order In $38M Nursing Home Fraud Suit

    MIAMI — A Florida federal judge issued a final forfeiture order regarding applying the assets of the former owner of skilled nursing facilities to the $38.7 million judgment entered against him for his role in a health care fraud scheme involving bribing physicians to have patients entered into the facilities he owned.

  • April 10, 2024

    Judge Bars Octogenarian’s Counsel For Conduct Violations Related To Foreclosure

    ATLANTA — A Georgia federal bankruptcy judge prohibited an attorney and his firm from filing any new bankruptcy cases in that court for 12 months, making the prohibition permanent as to any bankruptcy cases paid for by third parties, finding the sanction appropriate for repeated professional conduct violations as in the instant case where the attorney filed a Chapter 13 petition on behalf of an 80-year old man to stop foreclosure of the man’s home but instead accepted fees from the prospective home purchaser.

  • April 08, 2024

    Parents Respond To Bid For Miss. High Court Review Of Grandchild Visitation Denial

    JACKSON, Miss. — Parents of a child who have opposed a grandfather’s bid for visitation with the child urged the Mississippi Supreme Court to deny the grandfather’s petition for a writ of certiorari to review an appellate court’s ruling affirming dismissal of his petition for visitation with his granddaughter.

  • April 08, 2024

    N.H. Federal Jury Rules For Supermarket Worker In Age Discrimination Suit

    CONCORD, N.H. — A federal judge in New Hampshire entered a more than $130,000 judgment for a supermarket worker who alleged that he was denied promotion to a full-time position due to his age; the judgment came four days after a jury found that the promotion denial was a willful violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and the New Hampshire Law Against Discrimination (NHLAD).

  • April 04, 2024

    Pennsylvania Panel Upholds Decree Awarding Estate Funds To Decedent’s Lenders

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania appellate court on April 3 affirmed a lower court’s decree awarding the balance of a decedent’s estate funds to his ex-wife and her sister, both of whom loaned him money, finding that the evidence in the case establishes that there was an oral contract for loans between the parties.

  • April 04, 2024

    Panel Affirms Ruling Denying Care Home’s Bid For Arbitration, Deems POA Invalid

    JACKSON, Tenn. — A Tennessee appellate court affirmed a lower court’s ruling denying a nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration in a wrongful death suit, finding that because the decedent lacked the capacity to execute a power of attorney (POA), the arbitration agreement signed by the decedent’s agent pursuant to a health care POA was invalid.

  • April 03, 2024

    9th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of Wire Fraud Elder Abuse Suit Against Chase

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s order dismissing with prejudice a financial elder abuse and negligence suit filed against JPMorgan Chase Bank by a couple who were victims of wire fraud, finding that the plaintiffs failed to allege that Chase had actual knowledge of the fraud and that banks have no implied duty to supervise their customers’ account activity.

  • April 02, 2024

    HP’s $18M Age Bias Class, Collective Settlement Granted Final Approval

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted final approval of an $18 million settlement to be paid by HP Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Co. (together, HP) to end a collective and class complaint accusing the technology company of terminating older workers during workforce reductions and replacing them with younger employees in violation of federal and California law, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • April 02, 2024

    Judge Agrees To Partial Seal In Class Suit Over States’ Understaffed Nursing Homes

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal judge granted in part plaintiffs’ motion to conditionally file under seal in a consolidated putative class action against nursing home facilities claiming that understaffing resulted in residents receiving inadequate services, finding that specified exhibits with residents’ personally identifying information must be sealed but that plaintiffs must file a version of the class certification memo “redacting only the personally identifiable information” of residents’ family members.

  • April 01, 2024

    California High Court Affirms Ruling Denying Care Home’s Bid To Compel Arbitration

    SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court affirmed an appellate court’s judgment upholding a lower court decision denying a nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration in an elder abuse and negligence suit filed against the nursing home related to a former resident’s fall and fracture, finding that the arbitration agreement signed by the resident’s agent under a health care power of attorney was not a health care decision within the agent’s authority.