Mealey's Elder Law
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June 14, 2022
New Jersey Panel Affirms, Says Challenges To Aid In Dying Act ‘Are Meritless’
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appellate court on June 10 affirmed a trial court order dismissing a suit filed by a terminally ill New Jersey resident, a physician and a pharmacist seeking to invalidate and enjoin the New Jersey Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act, finding that the “plaintiffs lack standing and their constitutional and other challenges are meritless.”
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June 13, 2022
Georgia Jury Awards $4.25M Against Nursing Home, Doctors In Wrongful Death Suit
HINESVILLE, Ga. — A Georgia state court judge on May 26 entered a $1.7 million judgment against two physicians three days after a Georgia jury issued a unanimous $4.25 million verdict against a nursing home and the two physicians who treated a former nursing home resident who died after becoming septic.
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June 10, 2022
Residents Appeal Dismissal Of RICO Suit Against Care Homes To 11th Circuit
TAMPA, Fla. — A putative class of nursing home residents on June 8 appealed to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a district court’s May 9 order adopting a magistrate judge’s report and dismissing a suit alleging that skilled nursing facilities improperly obtained their licenses and were sold without valid licenses, agreeing with the magistrate judge that the plaintiffs lacked standing and did not allege an “injury-in-fact.”
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June 09, 2022
Louisiana Panel: Care Home Didn’t Show Malpractice As Basis For Negligence Claim
LAKE CHARLES, La. — A divided Louisiana appellate court on May 11 reversed and remanded a trial court judgment sustaining a nursing home’s exception on prematurity grounds, finding that the nursing home did not show that the negligence alleged by the children of a deceased former nursing home resident who died after sustaining burns while smoking in bed “sounded in medical malpractice” under the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act (MMA).
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June 09, 2022
Federal Judge Says RN Staff Requirements Of LTC Policy Not Met By Nursing Home
COVINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge on May 27 denied a motion for summary judgment filed by a resident of a nursing home’s personal care unit but granted summary judgment to a long-term care (LTC) insurer and dismissed a suit filed by the resident against the insurer alleging improper denial of her LTC benefits, finding that the nursing home’s personal care unit failed to meet the definition of a LTC facility under the policy because it does not provide 24-hour nursing care by a registered nurse.
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June 09, 2022
California Judge Says Care Home Can’t Refuse To Accept Resident Back From Hospital
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California state court judge on April 12 granted summary judgment to the California Long-Term Care Ombudsman Association (CLTCOA) against a nursing home in a suit filed by a now-deceased former resident and CLTCOA alleging that the home illegally “dumped” her into a hospital and refused to readmit her upon discharge, finding that “CLTCOA has established with undisputed material facts its associational standing to allege its declaratory relief cause of action.”
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June 09, 2022
Class Complaint Accuses New York Veterans’ Home Of Negligence For COVID Deaths
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — A Long Island veterans home was negligent in failing to protect its residents against the spread of COVID-19, proposed administrators and executors of the estates of deceased former residents allege in a class complaint filed May 20 in New York federal court.
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June 08, 2022
Preliminary Injunction Motion Withdrawn In Fraudulent Transfer Suit Against Insurer
WILMINGTON, Del. — Citing changes in the defendants’ plans, the plaintiffs in a putative class suit alleging fraudulent transfers from an insurance subsidiary that more than 1 million policyholders depend on for long-term care (LTC) insurance disability benefits informed the Delaware Chancery Court in a June 3 letter that they are withdrawing their motion for a preliminary injunction.
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June 07, 2022
6th Circuit Upholds Age Bias Ruling For Employer Due To No Showing Of Pretext
CINCINNATI — A former Volvo supervisor who alleged that he was fired due to his age failed to show that the reason given for his termination — yelling profanities at a subordinate — was pretext for age discrimination, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled June 3.
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June 06, 2022
Nebraska High Court Vacates Dismissal Of Grandparent Visitation Petition
LINCOLN, Neb. — The Nebraska Supreme Court on May 27 vacated and remanded a district court’s dismissal of a maternal grandmother’s petition for grandparent visitation, finding that “[t]he district court erred in concluding that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction” because that conclusion is not supported by Nebraska statutes.
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June 06, 2022
11th Circuit Vacates Dismissal Of Accountant’s Age Bias Complaint
ATLANTA — A trial court erred when it relied on an email exchange provided by the employer to dismiss an accountant’s age bias complaint for failure to file a timely charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission without ever giving the accountant a chance to respond, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in an unpublished per curiam opinion on June 3, vacating the order of dismissal.
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June 06, 2022
Allstate Argues Waiver In Opposing Review Of Life Insurance Termination Ruling
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing that petitioners “present issues they waived below or seek this Court’s review of a factbound summary judgment determination on which two lower courts have agreed,” respondent Allstate Insurance Co. on June 1 urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to review a decision in which retirees’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenge to termination of a life insurance benefit was denied.
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June 02, 2022
9th Circuit Panel Unanimously Denies Rehearing In Medicare Act Preemption Suit
SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 27 unanimously denied a petition for rehearing and filed an amended opinion affirming a district court’s summary judgment in favor of a health insurance company in a suit filed by the wife of a deceased Medicare patient against the company regarding its administration of her deceased husband’s Medicare Advantage (MA) plan.
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June 02, 2022
Panel Says Court Correctly Granted Protective Order To Care Home Resident’s Wife
LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan appellate court on May 26 affirmed in part, vacated in part and remanded a trial court decision granting a protective order to a nursing home resident’s wife to transfer property for the wife’s benefit pending approval of the resident’s Medicaid application, finding that “[t]he trial court did not err in granting the protective order” but “erred by failing to appropriately identify the transferred property and improperly transferred unauthorized assets.”
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June 01, 2022
Panel Affirms Order Overruling Arbitration Objections In Care Home Negligence Suit
PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania appellate court on May 27 affirmed a trial court order overruling a nursing home’s preliminary objections requesting binding arbitration in a negligence and wrongful death suit filed by an estate administrator after a resident died there, finding that the nursing home failed to show that the person signing the arbitration agreement “had authority to agree to the arbitration provision.”
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May 31, 2022
Illinois Care Home And Estate Administrator Agree To Dismiss COVID Death Suit
CHICAGO — After an estate administrator and nursing home on May 23 filed a joint stipulation for dismissal in an Illinois federal court, a federal judge the same day issued a docket entry to dismiss, pursuant to settlement, the suit filed by the administrator against the nursing home related to the COVID-19 death of a resident there.
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May 26, 2022
Louisiana Panel Affirms Finding That Decedent Had ‘Capacity’ To Execute Will
GRETNA, La. — A Louisiana appellate court on May 11 affirmed a trial court judgment that a power of attorney (POA) granted to the decedent’s son and the decedent’s will “were valid and enforceable” after the decedent’s widow filed a petition to open succession, finding that the decedent complied with Louisiana’s statutory requirements of executing a will and that evidence is lacking to support her claim that the POA gave the son “the right to transfer a community immovable without her consent.”
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May 26, 2022
Divided Ohio Panel: Trial Court Correctly Dismissed Complaint Against Care Home
CLEVELAND — A divided Ohio appellate court on May 12 affirmed a trial court judgment dismissing a nursing home resident’s suit alleging violations of Ohio’s nursing home residents’ rights statute against a nursing home, finding that probate courts have “exclusive jurisdiction over all matters touching the guardianship, including visitation matters.”
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May 26, 2022
Justice: Care Home Immune, No Retroactive Repeal Of Statute In COVID Death Suit
STATEN ISLAND, NY — A New York state justice on May 18 ruled that the repeal of a New York law granting immunity to nursing homes for the treatment of residents related to COVID-19 was not retroactive and that a nursing home was “immune from liability,” granting the nursing home’s motion to dismiss a negligence and wrongful death suit filed against it related to the suspected COVID-19 death of one of its residents.
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May 26, 2022
Appeals Panel Remands, Vacates Judgment For Trustees In Adoptee Inheritance Suit
BOSTON— A Massachusetts appellate panel on May 16 vacated a trial court’s summary judgment for a trustee and remanded in a suit filed by trustees seeking a declaration that an adoptee was not entitled to inherit under the trusts, finding that there is a factual question regarding whether the trust terms of a “legally adopted” person were intended to apply to the adoptee, who was adopted as an adult.