Samuel Dale Graham was driving his SUV; his wife, Sharla Kay, and their two children were passengers. Another motorist, Alisa Prueitt, drove off the road, over-corrected and struck the Graham SUV, which rolled over. Samuel, 37 at the time, suffered fatal blunt-force trauma injuries and died at the scene. At…
A Pennsylvania Superior court held that a trial judge did not violate the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) by refusing to split up a plaintiff’s wrongful death and survival claims arising out of the death of a nursing home resident. Margaret Tuomi was a resident at Kenric Manor, an assisted living…
In a nursing home dispute, the Illinois Appellate Court weighed in on an issue of whether a health-care power of attorney holder could bind the nursing home resident to an arbitration provision in order to gain admission to the long-term care facility. In this case, Edward M. Fiala Jr. sued…
In an odd but troubling state of the law, the Illinois Appellate Court uncovered a hole in the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act protecting nursing home residents. In this case, Marvin Gruby was a resident of Manorcare Health and Rehabilitation Services. He was given notice that the nursing home wanted…
On Dec. 13, 2006, Myron Tucker was admitted to a long-term care facility in Oak Lawn, Ill. Tucker was 52 at the time and was wheelchair dependent with impaired memory and judgment. His medical history included a seizure disorder, right-sided stroke with left hemiparesis, a craniotomy and brain surgery for…
The New York Times has reported that a California nursing home fined by the state for substandard nursing care and facing many lawsuits has gone to the bankruptcy court to try to extinguish the burden of these fines and coming judgments. The nursing home faced many lawsuits filed by families…
As the baby boom generation ages, the population of nursing homes is also expanding. Elderly Americans and Illinois residents who reside in nursing homes are likely the most vulnerable members of this aging society. Nursing home cases should not be confused with medical malpractice cases. A medical malpractice case typically…
The Illinois Probate Act was recently amended to include a new section entitled, “Presumptively Void Transfers.” 755 ILCS 5/4(a) et seq. The effective date of the statute was Jan. 1, 2015. The intended purpose of the legislation was to prevent unrelated caregivers from taking advantage of elderly or disabled persons…
The owners of a chain of nursing homes housed in multiple states around the United States have been held to have committed fraudulent transactions in an attempt to transfer liabilities to a “shell company.” The owners of Fundamental Long Term Care Inc. have been the subject of multiple wrongful death cases…
John Tully, 80, had a history of an unsteady gait. He was living at a nursing home owned and managed by the California Department of Veteran Affairs. Tully had fallen twice within a 10-day period and, as a result of his last fall, he fractured his spine. Complications from that…