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

Mealey's Elder Law

May 14, 2024
Ohio Panel Affirms Ruling Reinstating Attorney As Estate Special Administrator

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — An Ohio appellate court on May 13 affirmed a lower court ruling granting a nursing home creditor’s motion for relief from a judgment, finding that the lower court did not err in granting the nursing home’s motion and reinstating the appointment of an attorney as special administrator for the estate in part because the surviving spouse was not entitled to be notified as to the attorney’s motion.
May 13, 2024
Nebraska High Court Affirms Ruling Requiring Inheritance Tax To Be Paid By Trust

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Nebraska Supreme Court on May 10 affirmed a lower court ruling requiring inheritance taxes to be paid by a trust that devised a decedent’s house to his girlfriend and the residuary to his three children, finding that the trust language clearly shows that the inheritance tax was to be paid out of the trust rather than pro rata, according to the individual beneficiaries.
May 13, 2024
Judgment Issued In $2.5M Verdict Against Florida Care Home Over Fall Risk Injuries

MIAMI — A Florida state court judge issued a final judgment the day after a jury returned a $2.5 million verdict against a nursing home accused of negligence in failing to implement a care plan for a former resident who fell and incurred facial and head injuries.
May 10, 2024
California Judge Grants Conservatorship Of Brian Wilson To Publicist And Manager

LOS ANGELES — A California state court judge on May 9 issued an order granting conservatorship of Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, to both his publicist and his business manager, finding that a conservatorship of the person is necessary to provide for the conservatee’s daily needs but that a conservatorship of the estate is not needed because the conservatee’s assets are held in a trust.
May 09, 2024
Florida Panel Reverses Prior Ruling And Affirms Foreclosure On Decedent’s Property

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida appellate court on May 8 withdrew its opinion that reversed a lower court’s judgment of foreclosure on the property of a decedent who died during foreclosure proceedings without a personal representative being appointed after his death, finding that because a homestead is not considered part of the probated estate, appointing a personal representative was not required.
May 08, 2024
Panel: Lower Court Correctly Compelled Certain Parties To Arbitrate In Estate Row

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — An Ohio appellate court affirmed a lower court ruling that did not compel a decedent’s heirs to arbitration but compelled to arbitration the decedent’s investment account broker, the decedent’s estate and the church named as the beneficiary of the decedent’s investment accounts, finding that the broker did not waive the right to arbitration and the estate’s participation in “arbitration proceedings undermined its arguments regarding waiver.”
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).