Docket: Long-term Care Services and Supports
Case Name: Brown v. Azar
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. CD Cal. Docket: 21-00511
Filed: 1/19/2021
Read Complaint (PDF), Press Release
Case Issue: Did the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services err when it approved provider rate cuts and bureaucratic hurdles to California’s Medicaid Plan?
Case Name: National Consumer Voice v. U.S. Dep't Health and Human Services
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. D.C. Docket: 21-162
Filed: 1/18/2021
Read Complaint (PDF), Press Release, Article
Case Issue: Can CMS and HHS change the structure of enforcement by imposing only per instance fines instead of per day fines for nursing facilities who violate the Nursing Home Reform Act but correct that noncompliance prior to state survey agencies reviewing their compliance?
Case Name: Stephanie P. v. Shibinette
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. New Hampshire Docket: 21-00025
Filed: 1/11/2021
Read Complaint (PDF), Press Release
Case Issue: Does the failure of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services to provide personal care and other services to people with disabilities under the state’s Choices for Independence Waiver program, that puts them at risk of needing to be institutionalized, violate the Americans with Disabilities Act or other federal law?
Case Name: Wicks v. Antelope Valley Healthcare District
Court: Supreme Court of Cal. Docket: S262977
Read AARP Brief (PDF)
Decided: 9/14/2020
Case Result: The California Supreme Court declined to review the issue of whether or not a boilerplate emergency room form provides meaningful notice to patients that the hospital will not be liable for its emergency room physicians’ negligence.
Case Name: Whitman Walker Clinic v. U.S. Dep't of Health and Human Services
Court: U.S. Dist Ct. D.C. Docket: 20-1630
Decided: 9/2/2020
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF), Press Release, Opinion (PDF), Article
Case Result: The district court for the District of Columbia enjoined HHS from implementing the provisions of the rule that would have eliminated discrimination based on sex stereotypes from the definition of discrimination on the basis of sex, and incorporated Title IX’s exemption of certain religious organizations from Section 1557.
Case Name: Talevski v. Health and Hosp. Corp.
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 7th Cir. Docket: 20-1664
Read AARP Brief (PDF)
Filed: 8/7/2020
Case Issue: Can a resident in a government-owned nursing facility bring a private right of action under Section 1983 to challenge a violation of their rights under the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act?
Case Name: Association for Community Affiliated Plans v. U.S. Dep't of Treasury
Court: U.S. Ct. App. D.C. Cir. Docket: 19-5212
Decided: 7/17/2020
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF) Opinion (PDF)
Case Result: The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, by a 2-1 vote, held that the Departments’ rule defining short-term, limited-duration insurance (STLDI) does not violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
Case Name: U.S. ex rel Ruckh v. CMC II, LLC
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 11th Cir. Docket: 18-10500D
Decided: 6/25/2020
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF) and Opinion (PDF)
Case Result: The Eleventh Circuit reversed the district court’s decision in part and remanded the case to reinstate the jury’s $85 million verdict. It found that billing discrepancies and upcoding were material to the government’s decision to pay Medicare claims and sufficient to prove Medicare fraud. The Court also affirmed the part of the district court’s decision that denied the Medicaid claims.
Case Name: California v. Texas (formerly, Texas v. United States)
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 19-840 & 19-1019
Filed: 5/13/2020
Read Amicus Brief (PDF) and Press Release
Case Issue: Is the Affordable Care Act's minimum coverage provision unconstitutional now that Congress dropped the penalty for not securing ACA-compliant coverage to zero? If that provision is unconstitutional, is that provision severable from the rest of the ACA or does it render the entire ACA invalid?
Case Name: Thryv v. Click-to-Call
Court: U.S. Supreme Ct. Docket: 18-916
Decided: 4/20/2020
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF) and Decision (PDF)
Case Issue: Is the decision by the Patent Trial & Appeal Board to review a patent through the inter partes review process final and nonappealable?
Case Result: The Federal Circuit’s decision was vacated.
Case Name: Texas v. United States
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 5th Cir. Docket: 19-10011
Decided: 2/6/2020
Read Amicus Brief (PDF), Decision (PDF), Listen to Podcast
Case Result: The Fifth Circuit partially affirmed the district court’s decision and found that the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional. It then remanded the case back to the district court to consider whether the rest of the ACA can remain intact.
Case Name: Texas v. U.S.
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 19-840, 19-841
Filed: 1/15/2020
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF) and Press Release
Case Issue: Should the Supreme Court agree to review an appeal of a Fifth Circuit decision finding the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional and remanding the case back to the district court?
Case Name: Guillermo Tabraue, Esq. (Estate of Suyima Torres) v. Doctors Hospital
Court: Supreme Court of Florida Docket: SC19-685
Filed: 11/4/2019
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Issue: Can hospitals be held legally accountable for negligent care by emergency department physicians who are contractors and not employees?
Case Name: California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) v. Smith
Court: Ct. App. State of Cal., First Appellate Div. Docket: A147987
Decided: 8/21/2019
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF) and Decision (PDF)
Case Result: Court upheld California statute that permits nursing facilities to administer antipsychotic drugs to people who lack capacity, based only on what treatment team deems is appropriate.
Case Name: GGNSC Louisville Hillcrest v. Bramer
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 6th Cir. Docket: 18-6059
Decided: 8/2/2019
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF) and Decision (PDF)
Case Result: The sixth circuit affirmed the lower court's decision. It held that a nursing facility could not use an arbitration agreement from a prior admission to compel arbitration against a resident who declined to sign a new arbitration agreement for a subsequent admission.
Case Name: Posey v. Northport Health Services of Arkansas
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 8th Cir. Docket: 18-2459
Decided: 7/23/2019
Read AARP's Brief (PDF)
Case Result: The eighth circuit reversed the lower court's decision. It held that no valid arbitration agreement exists when the person who signed the agreement lacked the legal authority to waive the resident's right to a jury trial.
Case Name: ACAP v. U. S. Dep't of Treasury
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. D.C. Docket: 18-2133 (RJL)
Decided: 7/19/2019
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF) and Press Release
Case Result: The court held that the defendant agencies did not exceed the authority granted them by Congress in issuing the 2018 STLDI rule, and that defining STLDI as no longer than 365 days, and automatically renewable for 36 months is permissible under the law, and not inconsistent with the ACA.
Case Name: Brown v. District of Columbia (Litigation Appeal)
Court: U.S. Ct. App. D.C. Cir. Docket: 17-7152
Decided: 7/5/2019
Read Announcement, Opening Brief (PDF), Appellant's Reply Brief (PDF) and Opinion (PDF)
Case Issue: Was the court’s finding that Plaintiffs failed to establish “systemic deficiencies” in the manner in which the District of Columbia enrolls nursing home residents into home and community-based services against the weight of the evidence?
Did the court commit legal error by holding that it cannot craft class–wide injunctive relief if class members who have suffered discrimination cannot all benefit from the relief provided due to individualized circumstances (e.g., some have homes to which to return and others do not)?
Result: The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed the trial court and remanded this Olmstead case. Now a class of approximately 1000 nursing facility residents wanting to live in their own homes with the same kind of medical services and supports as they receive in nursing facilities need D.C. to provide assistance.
Case Name: Texas v. United States
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ND Tex Docket: 18-00167
Decided: 12/30/2018
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF) and Decision (PDF)
Case Result: The federal district court granted partial summary judgment for the plaintiffs, declaring that the individual mandate provision was unconstitutional, and that the remaining provisions of the ACA are inseverable and therefore invalid. The court stayed the decision pending appeal. The case is now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Case Name: Cochrum v. Costa Victoria Healthcare
Court: Cal. Supreme Court Docket: S251140
Decided: 10/17/2018
Read AARP's Brief (PDF)
Case Result: The Court, without issuing an opinion, denied Plaintiff-Appellant’s petition for review and request for depublication of the Court of Appeals decision.
Case Name: Maryland (State of) v. Neiswanger Management Servs.
Court: Ct. App. Maryland Docket: No. 28, Sept. 2017 Term
Decided: 2/20/2018
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF) and Opinion (PDF)
Case Result: The State of Maryland alleged that a chain of nursing facilities (“NMS”) engaged in a widespread pattern of unlawful involuntary discharges of residents, in violation of the Maryland Patient’s Bill of Rights. The Maryland Attorney General sought to enjoin NMS from unlawfully discharging residents by requiring them to comply with the state and federal notice and discharge requirements and the requirement that they help residents apply for federal financial aid to pay for their care and stay. The trial level court dismissed the complaint, holding that the Injunction and Enforcement Clauses of the Maryland Patient’s Bill of Rights authorized injunctive relief only for an individual resident named in the lawsuit, and did not grant the authority to ban company practices that affect a class of residents who had not yet been unlawfully evicted. Maryland’s highest court reversed.
The Court held that the Patient’s Bill of Rights authorizes “the Attorney General to seek injunctive relief on behalf of multiple unnamed residents who have been, or await, imminent unlawful involuntary discharges, provided the statutory standard has been met.” State v. Neiswanger Mgmt. Servs., LLC, 2018 Md. LEXIS 98, at *43 (citations omitted). The Court also held that the Attorney General may seek injunctive relief “to enforce a facility’s obligation to ‘cooperate with and assist’ a resident or [resident’s] agent in seeking assistance from the medical assistance program…” to pay for the nursing facility stay. Id. at *44.
Case Name: Graff v. Heritage Manor of Slidell
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ED La. Docket: 17-cv-06812
Read Article and Press Release
Case Result Comment: The parties jointly dismissed the case because the client died; however, the lawsuit as initiated by AARP Foundation was instrumental in the enactment of the legislation on the placement of video cameras in nursing facility residents' rooms.
Case Name: Single v. Catholic Pioneer Church Homes
Court: Superior Ct., State of Cal., County of Sacramento Docket: 2017-00220058
Filed: 10/4/2017
Read Complaint (PDF) and Press Release
Case Issue: Can a nursing facility refuse to readmit a resident who has exercised her administrative due process rights and won the right to readmission?
Case Name: Goodwin v. Fla. Dep't of Children and Families
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 16-1083
Decided: 10/2/2017
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Result: Supreme Court denied cert.
Case Name: Brown v. District of Columbia (formerly known as Thorpe v. District of Columbia)
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. D.C. Docket: 1:10-cv-02250-ESH
Decided: 9/18/2017
Read Opinion (PDF)
Case Result: Court ruled that the Plaintiffs did not prove systemic deficiencies that could be resolved with class-wide injunctive relief.
Case Name: Levine v. Ventura Convalescent Hospital
Court: Superior Court of Ventura, CA Docket: 56-2011-00406713
Closed: 9/15/2017
Read Summary and Press Release
Case Result: Case settled in 2014 with court ordered injunction, fees and costs awarded and court monitoring for three years--monitoring now complete.
Case Name: Keller v. Life Care Centers of America
Court: Cir Ct. for Green County, Tenn. Docket: 14-cv-500
Decided: 3/22/2017
Read Complaint (PDF)
Case Result: The matter was settled to the client's satisfaction.
Case Name: Darling v. Douglas
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ND Cal. Docket: #c 09-03798
Settled: 12/22/2016
Read Injunction 1 Summary, Injunction 2 Summary, Settlement Summary
Case Result: California successfully implemented the settlement agreement by providing needed community-based services thereby preventing the unnecessary institutionalization of tens of thousands of Medicaid recipients.
Case Name: Pierce v. Genesis Healthcare
Court: Superior Ct. of Delaware Docket: S16C-09-002
Filed: 9/2/2016
Read Complaint (PDF)
Case Result: The case was settled.
Case Name: Williams v. Penn Ctr. for Rehab. and Care
Court: Superior Ct. of Pa., E. Div. Docket: 1167 EDA 2014
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Result: The court held that the issues on appeal were waived due to the appellant's failure to obtain and cite to the Notes of Testimony in the post-trial motion for a new trial. The substantive issues addressed in the amicus brief were not decided by the court because the appellant lost on procedural grounds.
Case Name: Cuozzo Speed Technologies v. Lee
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 15-446
Decided: 6/20/2016
Read Summary and AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Result: Court validated PTO rules for inter partes review of patents.
Case Name: Thorpe v. District of Columbia
Court: U.S. Ct. App. D.C. Cir. Docket: 14-8001
Decided: 6/26/2015
Read Summary and Decision from Ct. App. D.C. Cir.
Case Result: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the government's petition for an interlocutory appeal, allowing the class action lawsuit against the District of Columbia on behalf of its nursing home Medicare beneficiaries to go forward.
Case Name: Bennett v. St. John's Home
Court: N.Y. Supreme Court Docket: 9516/10
Decided: 5/8/2015
Read Summary and AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Result: Appellate court affirmed a lower court's holding that the defendant nursing home established that they provided appropriate care and treatment and did not violate the state and federal laws identified by the plaintiff.
Case Name: Strausberg v. Laurel Healthcare Providers
Court: NM Supreme Court Docket: 33,331
Read Summary and AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Result: Court found that state of N.M. cannot shift the burden of showing a contract to arbitrate disputes is fair, onto a nursing facility.
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