Posts Tagged ‘W. Timothy Needham’

Arguments are soon to be heard regarding a preliminary injunction in a case that may have profound effects on how nursing home care is delivered to the poor in Humboldt County and across the state.

To help deal with California’s budget crisis, this year’s California budget included a 10% reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for freestanding skilled nursing facilities and other healthcare providers (AB 97).  This 10% cut is scheduled to go into effect retroactively to June 1, 2011.  That cut was recently approved by the Obama administration.  The State has agreed that, on December 31, 2012, it will reimburse medical providers for the 10% that is held back, provided it has the money.

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Janssen Malloy LLP partners, W. Timothy Needham, Michael J. Crowley, Patrik Griego and Amelia F. Burroughs have been nominated by Consumer Attorneys of California for the organization’s Consumer Attorney of the Year Award.  The nomination arises from the firm’s handling of the seminal jury verdict case of 2010, Lavender vs. Skilled Healthcare LLC.  The Janssen Law Firm, along with co-counsel Michael Thamer and Christopher Healey, obtained the largest jury verdict in the United States in 2010, $677 million dollars.  The case had a significant impact on the healthcare industry, specifically the skilled nursing facilities throughout the nation.

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Persons over the age of 50 control 70% of the wealth in our country.  Because seniors are perceived as slowing down mentally or, in the case of those who are either recently widowed or divorced, as being unsophisticated in handling their finances, they are often targets of financial abuse.  In an internal memo produced in a case in which we were involved regarding selling financial products to seniors, the author noted at the bottom, “And always remember the weak, the meek and the ignorant were always good targets.”  Humboldt County is no different than the rest of the state, and seniors in Humboldt County have recently been the targets of a number of financial scams.

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News Release – For Immediate Release

June 21, 2011

Contact: Deborah Mathis, Communications Director – (202) 797-8600 or dmathis@publicjustice.net

Six California Lawyers Who Won Historic Verdict for Nursing Home Residents Are Finalists for Trial Lawyer of the Year Award

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In recent class action cases that we have filed in Humboldt County and in other counties we’ve had occasion where all the funds have not been claimed after the claim process was finished.  We’ve been asked what is done with those remaining funds.

When a balance of class recovery remains after distribution to the individual class members, the court is faced with the issue of how to dispose of the remaining balance of the common fund.

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Janssen Law Firm partner W. Timothy Needham has been nominated for the 2011 Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year award through the American Association for Justice (AAJ).  The nomination stems from Mr. Needham’s tireless efforts on behalf of the plaintiffs in the Lavender v.  Skilled Healthcare nursing home understaffing class-action case that was tried in Humboldt County Superior Court in 2010.

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In one of the first class actions in which I was ever involved we sued an insurance carrier that had a policy which cheated its insureds out of fairly small amounts.  During discovery we turned up a memo that discussed bonuses to the employees with the slogan “A penny a patient.”  The idea was that, since the insurance carrier had over 20 million patients, if it could find a way to save (cheat) the patient out of one penny, that saved the company $200,000.

Of course who’s going to fight with a major insurance carrier over one penny?  No one.

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Janssen Law Firm partners Michael J. Crowley and W. Timothy Needham have been recognized by California Lawyer Magazine as California Lawyer attorneys of the year, recognizing their significant trial result in the Lavender v. Skilled Healthcare nursing home understaffing class-action case.  This case was tried to verdict in Humboldt County Superior Court after a six month trial, and resulted in a $677 million verdict against Skilled Healthcare for statutory violations of the state’s minimum nurse staffing requirements.  This is believed to the largest jury verdict in the nursing home context in the state’s history, and was among the top jury verdicts in the United States for 2010, in any field.

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Because of the success the Janssen Law Firm had in litigation against nursing homes, people often ask us what they should look for in determining whether to put their loved one in such a home.   Starting January 1, 2011, it will be easier to make that determination.

As of that date, all California nursing homes will be required to post the ratings for that facility under the MEDICARE 5-STAR RATING SYSTEM.  That system looks at three different criteria to determine home’s rating: (1) health inspections; (2) staffing numbers; and (3) quality measures.

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Journalist Matt Drange of the Eureka Times-Standard covered the Lavender v. Skilled Healthcare jury trial, writing in depth in a three part series the stories underlying the class action law suit against Skilled Healthcare.  Drange noted that it was the longest civil trial in Humboldt County history, and the $677 million verdict was the largest trial result in the United States in 2010.

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