NEW ORLEANS — Calling “the trio of jurisdictional doctrines” invoked by the owners and operators of a nursing home sued by the family of a resident who died after contracting COVID-19 at the facility “inapplicable,” the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 10 found that the family’s negligence claims are not preempted by the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, do not raise a substantial federal question and do not fall under the federal officer removal statute; it affirmed remand of the action to a Texas state court.
MINNEAPOLIS — A man’s retaliation claims against his former employer will continue and his damages expert may testify, a Minnesota federal judge ruled March 11, but the judge also awarded the company summary judgment on age discrimination claims.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On behalf of her deceased husband, the wife of a former nursing home resident on March 11 filed a brief in opposition to granting certiorari following a nursing home’s petition seeking review and reversal of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act (FNHRA) confers a private right of action to nursing home residents, asserting that all three courts of appeals ruling on the issue determined that nursing home residents have a private right of action under the FNHRA.
SEATTLE — The Crow Tribe in Montana had jurisdiction over an electric cooperative after it disconnected power to an elderly tribal member who lives on tribal trust land in violation of the tribe’s law against terminating electric service during the winter, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled March 11 in affirming an award of summary judgment to tribal defendants.
AUSTIN, Texas — Jurisdiction in a Texas probate court in a guardianship proceeding was proper because service on the decedent by a private process server, rather than by a sheriff, did not deprive the probate court of jurisdiction as the decedent was personally served and participated in the proceedings through counsel, a divided Texas Supreme Court said March 4.
FRANKFORT, Ky. — A trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying a nursing home’s motion for a new trial in a negligence and wrongful death action filed by an estate administrator against the nursing home related to the care of a former nursing home resident, a divided Kentucky appellate court held March 4, because the nursing home did not timely file supporting affidavits for requesting a new trial and failed to show how the alleged evidentiary errors constituted an abuse of discretion.
ATLANTA — A probate court erred in granting summary judgment to a woman who petitioned to probate a will in solemn form and in admitting that will to probate because the woman swore that two different wills were the decedent’s last will and testament, creating a factual question that requires resolution, a Georgia appellate court ruled Feb. 16.
FRANKFORT, Ky. — A widow’s estate is entitled to the dower portion of her deceased husband’s estate, and the trial court should have presumed that the deceased husband’s gift to his son without the widow’s knowledge was fraudulent, the Kentucky Supreme Court held Feb. 24, reversing an appellate court and remanding to the trial court to make a distribution to the widow’s estate satisfying the 50% dower share.
BOSTON — In affirming the dismissal of an action brought by a decedent’s son against his step-mother and half-siblings for alleged fraud in appropriating the decedent’s assets by tortiously interfering with the intent of the decedent’s will, the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 2 held that the trial court properly applied the probate exception to the son’s request that the court appoint a receiver to administer assets.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Nonprofit fair housing organizations and individuals asserting disability discrimination claims under the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (FHA), the New York Human Rights Law and Ohio Civil Rights Law against senior housing complexes owners failed to make a prima facie case showing that specific jurisdiction exists, a federal judge in New York held Feb. 28, granting a dismissal motion for lack of personal jurisdiction to an Ohio-based real estate investment trust controlling the entities that own the complexes but denying dismissal motions for lack of standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution and for failure to state a claim against the other defendants.
CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts requirements for arbitration agreements to include specific authorizations in Nevada law for cases involving interstate commerce because Nevada law “singles out and disfavors arbitration provisions by imposing stricter requirements on them than on other contract provisions,” the Nevada Supreme Court held Feb. 24, reversing and remanding a district court order denying a motion to compel arbitration in a wrongful death action against a nursing home.
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on March 4 granted final approval for a $5.2 million revised settlement to resolve a lawsuit accusing a smartphone-based dating app of discriminatory age-based pricing in violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) following the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of a previously approved settlement.
AUSTIN, Texas — A trial court’s order refusing to compel production of a nursing home’s policies and procedures before the plaintiff provided his expert report in a health care liability case against the nursing home was not an abuse of discretion because the nursing home’s policies are “outside the narrow scope of pre-report discovery” allowed in medical liability cases and the appellate court erred in requiring the trial court to “compel production,” the Texas Supreme Court held Feb. 25, conditionally granting the nursing home’s writ of mandamus petition.
DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 28 affirmed a trial court’s judgment for two flight attendants who accused United Airlines Inc. of age bias, calling the airline’s challenges regarding the evidence provided during and after the jury trial “meritless.”
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Guardians have authority to bind their wards to contracts that limit the ward’s civil rights “only to the extent necessary to provide needed care and services to the ward,” the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Feb. 24, reversing a lower appellate court’s ruling that a son, as his mother’s guardian, had the authority to bind her to a voluntary arbitration agreement included in documents he signed upon her admission to a long-term care facility.
NEW YORK — Saying in a summary order that the appellees have “full discretionary authority to determine eligibility and to interpret the terms of” a defined-benefit multiemployer pension plan, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 2 affirmed a lower court’s judgment in a dispute over reinterpretation of “retires” that resulted in stoppage of early retirement pensions benefits to some plan participants.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An estate administrator’s claims for negligence against a nursing home is within the scope of an arbitration agreement that was determined valid and enforceable by the Arkansas Supreme Court, an Arkansas appellate court found Feb. 23, reversing and remanding a trial court’s order denying the nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration.
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal district court in California was well within its discretion when it excluded an expert witness from testifying at trial in a long-term care insurance dispute stemming from an insured couple’s filing of allegedly fraudulent home health care claims, and a jury instruction it issued was not plainly erroneous, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal panel ruled March 1 in affirming a verdict against the couple.
LINCOLN, Neb. — A probate court erred by appointing a decedent’s mother as personal representative of her son’s estate after the mother filed an objection to being nominated as personal representative when the estate was opened to serve a lawsuit against the decedent more than three years after his death because issuing letters of personal representative without her qualification was not authorized by statute, the Nebraska Supreme Court held Feb. 18, reversing and remanding.
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Finding contingent liability under an assumption reinsurance agreement and ruling that the allegations supported by the record are “sufficient to satisfy Montana’s long-arm statute,” a Montana federal judge on Feb. 16 denied an insurer’s motion to dismiss a suit over a long-term care insurance policy.