Friday, December 24, 2021

24 December 2021: New Jersey to Pay $52.9 Million to Families of State-Run Veterans Nursing Home COVID Victims

In major settlement, N.J. agrees to pay $52.9M to families over COVID deaths in state’s hard-hit veterans homes

This report describes a $52,955,000 legal settlement being paid to the 119 families of COVID victims who were exposed to their fatal infection at three state-run nursing homes for veterans.

The state of New Jersey, which was accused of gross negligence and incompetence over its handling of the COVID outbreak in the state-run veterans homes, has agreed to pay nearly $53 million to the families of 119 residents whose deaths were attributed to the coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic.

An administration official, who confirmed the wide-ranging settlement on background, said the families on average will receive $445,000, based on arbitration proceedings.

“Cases settle for a variety of reasons. The families of those who have lost their lives to COVID-19 have gone through so much,” said the official. “This settlement will hopefully allow them to move forward without years of protracted and uncertain litigation.”

Two of the veterans homes — one in Menlo Park and a second in Paramus — reported some of the highest COVID-related death tolls in the nation. The coronavirus claimed the lives of more than 200 residents as the virus swept through the buildings, prompting the state to send in emergency assistance from the Veterans Administration and the National Guard.

Both facilities remain the focus of an ongoing federal investigation.

The out-of-court resolution comes despite a broad immunity granted to the New Jersey nursing homes early in the pandemic and to those “acting in good faith” in support of New Jersey’s COVID-19 response efforts. While not stopping all lawsuits, the state raised the bar in what might be considered negligence. Dozens of civil tort claims notices against New Jersey, though, were filed by attorneys for families of those who died while in the state’s care as the deaths in the veterans homes soared.

The settlement does not address COVID-related fatalities at privately-run nursing homes in New Jersey, which were subject to Governor Phil Murphy's version of Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive that forced nursing homes to admit patients being discharged from hospitals to free up hospital bed space in the state.

News of the Murphy administration's legal settlement follows the "Friday night news dump" pattern where politicians release news they believe will harm them politically late on Fridays or ahead of long holiday weekends, when the public is less likely to focus on news coverage. Since legal settlements take substantial negotiation, the timing of the announcement is not coincidental.

Here is the timeline's coverage of New Jersey's COVID nursing home deaths scandals, which are distinguished from Andrew M. Cuomo's by the lack of a cover-up, except for the situation involving the state government-run nursing homes for veterans:

-