A Surge of COVID Nursing Home Lawsuits in NY

Nursing Homes Face Growing Number of Lawsuits From Covid-19 Fallout

This report was originally published on 9 April 2022. It describes a "wave" of lawsuits being filed in New York and other states related to COVID nursing home deaths. Here's the background it provides for New York:

Two years after the coronavirus ravaged through nursing homes, families of residents who died from Covid-19 are bringing a wave of negligence and wrongful death lawsuits against the facilities.

The surge of suits, spurred by a repeal of liability protections and statutory deadlines to file the suits, largely accuses nursing homes of failing to properly curb the spread of disease, identify infected residents and treat their illnesses.

New York’s nursing-home industry says much of the devastation wrought by the virus—particularly in the chaotic early days of the pandemic—was beyond its control, citing staffing shortages, inadequate testing supplies, a lack of masks and other personal protective equipment and a controversial state policy requiring facilities to admit residents who tested positive for coronavirus....

Dozens of lawsuits have been filed in New York over the past month.

The article also provides more background information related to a bellwether case in Buffalo, NY, which the timeline first featured back on 28 March 2022:

Plaintiffs have notched some early victories that could make the lawsuits costlier to defend. A New York Supreme Court judge in Buffalo last month declined to dismiss a lawsuit against an Erie County nursing home, Humboldt House Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, brought by the sister of a 63-year-old resident who died of Covid-19 in April 2020.

The woman died days after New York enacted a health law that gave nursing homes and other healthcare facilities broad immunity from negligence lawsuits related to the pandemic. New York legislators eliminated the shield about a year later, but lawyers for Humboldt House argued in court that the repeal of the liability shield wasn’t retroactive.

The judge disagreed with that interpretation, ruling that the law’s legislative history made clear that the repeal was intended to be retroactive. “We have faith in the judicial process,” said Mario C. Giannettino, an attorney for Humboldt House. He said staff at the facility “risked and sacrificed their lives in a time of international crisis.”

Joseph L. Ciaccio, a New York malpractice attorney representing the administrator of the deceased woman’s estate, said his law firm, Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, has brought 48 lawsuits against nursing homes, filing most of the cases in the past month. Before pursuing litigation, the firm had to procure medical records and wait for the appointment of estate administrators to act as legal representatives on behalf of heirs of the decedent. He also faced a time constraint. In New York, like in many states, the statute of limitations for wrongful death claims is two years from the date of death.

“We’re trying to preserve the claims for our clients before running out of time,” said Mr. Ciaccio.

How many other attorneys like Ciaccio are out there working to get cases filed before the statute of limitations deadline arrives? And if we really want to have people responsible for what happened with COVID at New York's nursing homes held accountable, how many state government officials and agencies will need to be sued?