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Mealey's Elder Law

October 07, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Review Ruling Affirming Care Home Arbitration Bid Denial

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 denied certiorari to a California skilled nursing facility and its owner/operator who sought review of a California Supreme Court decision that affirmed the denial of their efforts to compel arbitration of an elder abuse and negligence suit filed against them related to a former resident’s fall and injuries.
October 07, 2024
8th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Class Action Alleging Fraud Against Insurer

ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of an insurer’s motion to dismiss a putative class action alleging that insureds purchased long-term care insurance policies that contained optional inflation protection riders based on the insurer’s false representations that their premiums were not expected to increase, finding that their complaint does not allege a material false statement or omission that they relied on and, therefore, fails to allege a claim for fraud.
October 07, 2024
Appeals Court Says Lower Court Failed To Follow Guidelines For Insolvent Estates

JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi appeals court reversed and remanded a lower court’s final judgment ordering payment of creditors’ claims and closing a decedent’s insolvent estate, which gave priority to attorney fee claims but denied other claims, finding that because the lower court failed to provide evidence to show that it complied with insolvent estate statutory requirements, the judgment must be reversed and remanded.
October 04, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Grants Petition In Age Bias Suit Over Reopening Dismissed Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 agreed to take up a question asking whether a former employee’s Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41 voluntary dismissal of his age bias suit pending arbitration was a final judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b).
October 02, 2024
Tennessee Panel Affirms Grandmother’s Visits Warranted, Remands For New Schedule

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A trial court correctly determined that a father severely reduced a grandmother’s visitation with her grandson and that grandparent visitation is warranted but established a visitation schedule that is “unreasonable and excessive,” the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled, affirming the lower court’s findings but vacating the visitation schedule and remanding for the establishment of a new schedule.
October 01, 2024
Ruling Issued On Competing Motions In Beneficiary Dispute Over $1M Life Policy

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut federal judge granted in part a husband’s motion for summary judgment in a dispute between him and his daughter over her deceased mother’s $1 million life insurance policy, finding that the daughter failed to show a dispute of material facts regarding her father’s alleged tortious conduct.
September 30, 2024
Alaska High Court Sides With ‘Overwhelming Majority’ In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

ANCHORAGE, Ala. — Finding “no reason to differ from the overwhelming majority” in answering “no” to two certified questions from an Alaska federal court, the Alaska Supreme Court held Sept. 27 that neither the presence of the coronavirus at an insured’s property nor operating restrictions that were imposed on an insured property by pandemic-prompted governmental orders constitute “direct physical loss of or damage to” the insured property to trigger coverage.
September 30, 2024
Judge Tosses Brother’s Suit Alleging Sister Mismanaged Deceased Father’s Trust

BROOKLYN, N.Y.— A New York federal judge granted a sister’s motion to dismiss her brother’s breach of fiduciary and unjust enrichment lawsuit alleging that she mismanaged their deceased father’s trust, finding that the brother does not have Article III or prudential standing to bring the claims against his sister.
September 24, 2024
Panel Reverses Order Denying Motion To Compel Arbitration In Care Home Death Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California appellate court reversed and remanded a lower court order denying a nursing home facility’s motion to compel arbitration in a wrongful death suit filed against it over a former resident’s death from drinking industrial cleaner, finding that remand is appropriate to determine whether the arbitration agreement was “validly executed” as well as resolving the issue of arbitrable claims in this case where different persons were agents pursuant to a durable power of attorney (POA) and a health care POA.
September 24, 2024
Split 11th Circuit Panel Addresses Sex-Plus Claims, Mixed-Motive Theories

ATLANTA — A split 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in a decision affirming summary judgment for an employer in a gender and age discrimination and retaliation case by two former employees “clear[ed] up two other strands of our case law: sex-plus claims and mixed-motive theories of liability.”
September 23, 2024
Confidentiality Stipulation Filed In $300M Ponzi Fraud Case Involving Insurers

MIAMI — Plaintiffs and defendant Wells Fargo filed a confidentiality stipulation in a Florida federal court in a putative class action suit alleging that Wells Fargo aided and abetted fraud in a “massive” Ponzi scheme purportedly orchestrated by owners of insurers, some of whom are now in receivership, resulting in elderly investor victims losing more than $300 million after scheme operators sold them promissory notes secured by collateral in stranger-oriented life insurance policies (STOLIs).
September 23, 2024
Removal Of COVID-19 Suit By Senior Home Was Premature Without Amount In Controversy

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — In a lawsuit filed by the estate of a woman who died in a senior living facility during the COVID-19 pandemic alleging negligence on the part of the facility, a New York federal judge granted the estate’s motion to remand to state court because the amount in controversy was not stated or otherwise determinable, thereby nullifying diversity jurisdiction.
September 17, 2024
Pennsylvania Panel Affirms Ruling That Will Lacked Legal Effect Due To Forgery

PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania appellate court on Sept. 16 affirmed a lower court ruling that a last will and testament had “no legal effect due to a forged signature,” finding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion in believing one handwriting expert who testified that the decedent’s signature in her will was forged over another handwriting expert who testified that it was not forged.
September 13, 2024
Panel Affirms Jury Verdict Of Over $418,000 For Estate In Undue Influence Case

ATLANTA — A Georgia appellate court affirmed a jury verdict of $418,758.55 in an undue influence and fraud suit filed by the estate of a man against a woman almost five decades his junior who had moved in with him, promising to take care of him for the rest of his life, finding that the woman “failed to present any meaningful argument” to show a lack of evidence regarding her “egregious conduct” in gaining control over “an elderly, cognitively impaired man’s finances, assets, and property.”
September 12, 2024
West Virginia Appeals Court Affirms Order Transferring Grandparent Visitation Case

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia appellate court affirmed a family court order transferring a paternal grandmother’s petition for grandparent visitation to a circuit court, finding that because the family court did not have jurisdiction to hear the grandparent visitation dispute, it did not abuse its discretion in transferring the case.
September 11, 2024
Citing Lack Of Jurisdiction, Alabama High Court Issues Reversal In Probate Row

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Ruling that a probate court lacked jurisdiction to enter a judgment granting equitable relief in a real property ownership dispute, the Alabama Supreme Court reversed and remanded a circuit court’s denial of a motion to set aside the judgment.
September 10, 2024
Agent Under POA Alleges Negligence Against Care Home Over Pressure Injuries

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An agent pursuant to a power of attorney (POA) sued a rehabilitation facility, a related entity and the facility owners and operators in a Missouri federal court, asserting that their negligence in failing to adequately staff the facility and provide the appropriate care resulted in a former resident developing pressure injuries, causing “pain, suffering and mental anguish.”
September 09, 2024
Class Certification Bid Fails In Remanded ERISA Case Over LTC Premium Hikes

BOSTON — On remand after partial revival of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenge to long-term care (LTC) insurance premium increases, a Massachusetts federal judge declined to certify injunctive relief and damages classes, saying in part that the central dispute “can only be resolved by examining extrinsic evidence that is necessarily individualized in nature.”
September 09, 2024
Company Urges Dismissal After Arbitration Bid Denied In Care Home Negligence Suit

NORTHERN JACKSON, Miss. — One day after a Mississippi federal judge denied a skilled nursing facility’s motion to compel arbitration in a negligence and medical malpractice suit filed against it and an affiliated limited liability corporation by a former resident through his guardian, the company filed a reply brief urging the judge to dismiss the case against it for lack of personal jurisdiction.
September 09, 2024
Care Gig Platform, FTC Reach $8.5M Agreement In Case Over Wages, Cancellations

AUSTIN, Texas — Care.com, a child and older adult care gig platform, will pay $8.5 million to end claims by the Federal Trade Commission that it has systematically deceived caregivers about wages available for potential jobs and at the same time failed to give families looking for care an easy way to cancel their paid memberships.
September 06, 2024
Louisiana Panel Affirms Man With Dementia Lacked Capacity To Author Will

SHREVEPORT, La. — Noting that it “found the orchestrated and intensified efforts” of a caregiver to obtain control over the estate of an elderly man with dementia “alarming,” a Louisiana appellate panel affirmed a lower court’s order denying the caretaker’s petition to probate a handwritten will purportedly authored by the man.
September 04, 2024
Minnesota Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Estate Dispute For Lack Of Jurisdiction

RAMSEY, Minn. — The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Sept. 3 affirmed a lower court’s ruling dismissing an executrix’s suit against her brother to quiet title and asserting claims for unjust enrichment and financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult related to the sale of their father’s trust property, finding that the lower court correctly determined that it lacked personal jurisdiction due to the brother’s lack of minimum contacts with Minnesota.
September 03, 2024
6th Circuit: No Bargaining Need For Nursing Home’s Pandemic Hiring, Pay Decisions

CINCINNATI — A nursing home owner’s hiring and pay decisions in response to staffing shortages at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 were made due to exigent circumstances and did not require bargaining with the union representing two groups of employees, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, partially affirming and partially reversing a decision by the National Labor Relations Board.
September 03, 2024
HHS Issues Status Report In Decade-Old Medicare Coverage Row Over Hospital Stays

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The secretary of Health and Human Services filed a status report in a Connecticut federal court regarding progress in implementing a final rule to comply with a court order and injunction in a long-running class action in which a district court in 2020 allowed a portion of a class of Medicare beneficiaries placed on observation status after being admitted to the hospital as inpatients to appeal their denial of coverage.
August 29, 2024
Production Of Full Funding Agreement Ordered In DUFTA Case Involving Insurer

WILMINGTON, Del. — Saying his relevance conclusion sprang from “the class action context . . . and the express terms of the Funding Agreement itself,” a Delaware Chancery Court vice chancellor ordered the plaintiffs in a suit over an alleged scheme to strip capital from an insurance subsidiary on which many policyholders depend for long-term care (LTC) disability benefits to produce the funding and contingent fee agreements in their entirety.