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

Mealey's Elder Law

June 12, 2024
Massachusetts AG Announces $4M Understaffing Settlement With Care Home Operator

BOSTON — Following an investigation into understaffing at nursing homes operated by Next Step Healthcare LLC, the Massachusetts attorney general announced that specified state agencies and her office, in its largest nursing home settlement, resolved allegations of nursing home neglect regarding Next Step’s failure to protect residents at the 16 nursing homes it operates, requiring Next Step and related parties to pay $4 million and to fund and participate in compliance monitoring to improve staffing levels.
June 11, 2024
Colorado High Court: Privilege Between Physician And Patient ‘Survives’ Death

DENVER — A unanimous Colorado Supreme Court on June 10 discharged a rule to show cause and lifted a stay on a lower court’s in camera review of a decedent’s medical records in a dispute between siblings over the validity of their father’s most recent will, finding that though “the physician-patient privilege survives the privilege holder’s death,” disclosure of the decedent’s medical records is permitted under the testamentary exception if needed for estate administration.
June 11, 2024
Judge Partly Denies Insurer’s Summary Judgment Motion In Hurricane Laura Dispute

LAKE CHARLES, La. — A federal judge in Louisiana held that whether an insured’s submitted additional damages or mitigation expenses may be considered within its original loss event or as a separate loss event is inherently a fact question that is contingent on the state of repairs or mitigation of the insured property when Hurricane Delta occurred, partly denying an insurer’s motion in a coverage dispute arising from Hurricane Laura.
June 10, 2024
Judge Rules In Favor Of Senior Care Liability Insurer In Dispute With Nursing Home

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge granted a senior care liability insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying $3.3 million default judgment entered against a nursing home insured, finding that the insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify the insured in the underlying lawsuit brought under Illinois’ Nursing Home Care Act and Wrongful Death Act.
June 10, 2024
Seniors Sue Wells Fargo For Fraud In $300M Ponzi Scheme Involving Insurers

MIAMI — Two seniors filed a putative class action against Wells Fargo in a Florida federal court for its role in allegedly aiding and abetting 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).
June 06, 2024
U.S. High Court Affirms 8th Circuit Ruling In Row Over Estate Tax, Share Valuation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 6 unanimously affirmed an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision upholding a district court’s ruling granting summary judgment to the U.S. government in a dispute over its determination that an estate owed an additional $889,914 in taxes, finding that the contractual obligation to redeem the shares of the decedent by the corporation he jointly owned with his surviving brother did not reduce the value of those shares.
June 04, 2024
Iowa High Court Reverses Lower Court Ruling For New Trial In Heirs’ Dispute

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court reversed and remanded a lower court judgment that granted in part a dismissal motion and ordered a new trial in a will contest between a decedent’s six children, finding that the movant was not entitled to a new trial due to a failure to join indispensable parties because the daughter who consented to dismissal of claims against her had previously participated in the litigation.
May 31, 2024
Judge Orders Brian Wilson’s Co-Conservators To File Level Of Care Determination

LOS ANGELES — After co-conservators for Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, signed letters of conservatorship, a California state court judge on May 30 issued an order requiring the co-conservators to consult with Wilson’s children regarding health care decisions and to file within 60 days a determination of the conservatee’s appropriate level of care.
May 31, 2024
Judge Tosses Seniors’ Suit Against Oklahoma Officials Who Denied Medicaid Benefits

OKLAHOMA CITY— An Oklahoma federal judge dismissed with prejudice a suit filed on behalf of three senior citizens whose applications for long-term care Medicaid benefits were denied, finding that the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) did not violate federal law by requesting information about the seniors’ asset transfers and associated promissory notes because the requested information the seniors failed to provide was necessary to determine Medicaid eligibility (Penelope Lamle, et al. v. Deborah Shropshire, et al., No. 22-391, W.D. Okla., 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95213).
May 29, 2024
Maine High Court Affirms Ruling That Residual Estate Passes To Decedent’s Daughter

PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a probate court’s ruling that a decedent’s daughter is the beneficiary of the decedent’s residual estate, finding that because the probated will did not address disposition of the residuary estate if the decedent survived her husband, who predeceased her, the probate court correctly determined that pursuant to intestate succession, the decedent’s daughter is the beneficiary of the residual estate.
May 28, 2024
Illinois High Court Hears Arguments In Row Over Care Facilities’ COVID Immunity

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments in estates’ appeal of an appellate court decision answering in the affirmative a question certified to it from a lower court after modifying it to ask whether a specific executive order issued by the Illinois governor grants “immunity for ordinary negligence claims to healthcare facilities that rendered assistance to the State during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
May 24, 2024
LTC Insurer Gets Extension To Answer Class Complaint Alleging Unfair Rate Hikes

CHICAGO — In a docket entry, an Illinois federal judge granted a long-term care (LTC) insurer an extension to answer an amended complaint in a putative class action alleging that the insurer sought premium increases in different states and for different amounts without considering policy language prohibiting nonuniform rate increases.
May 21, 2024
Federal Jury Finds Nashville Deputy Fire Marshal Subjected To Age, Gender Bias

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal jury in Tennessee returned a verdict largely for a Nashville deputy fire marshal who alleged that she was prevented from becoming the fire department’s first female fire marshal due to the “good ole boys club,” which resulted in a younger and less experienced male employee from another department being chosen for the job.
May 16, 2024
Rehearing Sought For Ruling Affirming Issuance Of Elder Abuse Restraining Order

SAN FRANCISCO — A son-in-law on May 15 petitioned for rehearing of a California appellate court’s ruling affirming a lower court’s order issuing a restraining order requested by the man’s mother-in-law pursuant to the California Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act. (Elder Abuse Act), finding that the order restricting the man’s possession of firearms and requiring him to move out of the family home was necessary to protect his mother-in-law from further abuse.
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.