The Fresno Bee, in an article written by Barbara Anderson published on April 19, 2010, reported on the Humboldt County nursing home staffing class action lawsuit in which the Janssen Law Firm is one of the three law firms representing the plaintiffs.
Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc., a group of for-profit nursing homes have put elderly residents at risk and skirted state law by skimping on staff to make more money, lawyers contend in a class-action lawsuit.
In a trial unfolding in Humboldt County Superior Court, lawyers for nursing home residents say staffing problems have plagued homes operated by Skilled Healthcare Group Inc., the 10th-largest nursing home chain in the country. They hope to collect a multimillion-dollar judgment and improve care.
The nursing homes deny the allegations and say they have maintained adequate staffing levels and provided quality care.
Industry and advocates for nursing-home reform are watching the case closely. It’s not the first class-action case nursing homes have faced for staffing problems, but the size of the case means it could have a far-ranging effect on how nursing homes are staffed.
The lawsuit names as defendants 22 nursing homes in California, the company that owns them, Skilled Healthcare Group Inc., and its subsidiary Skilled Healthcare LLC. Willow Creek Healthcare Center in Clovis and Valley Healthcare Center in Fresno are two of the defendants.
More than 32,000 nursing home residents are represented by the class action, lawyers for the plaintiffs say.
The case has been lengthy — it was filed in 2006, and after four years of pretrial motions and hearings, the trial could be coming to a close this spring. This month, the plaintiffs rested their case and the defense began presenting testimony to jurors.
Millions of dollars could be at stake. In addition to seeking punitive damages, the plaintiffs are suing for statutory damages for each day the nursing homes are found out of compliance with staffing laws. The plaintiffs contend the California homes were under-staffed thousands of days over the six-year period — 2003 to 2009 — covered by the lawsuit. Penalties can be up to $500 per resident for each day the law was violated.
Lawyers for the nursing-home residents say they hope not only to win restitution for residents, but also to spur reforms in the industry. “We want to change the corporate culture of the for-profit nursing operators to have them start paying more attention to the nursing of the residents and less attention to shareholders,” said Michael Crowley, lead trial counsel for the plaintiffs and a lawyer with the Janssen law firm in Eureka.
Read more in the Fresno Bee.
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