Reviewed by
If your parent was injured or died inside a nursing home, assisted living facility (ALF) or memory care unit, you may be considering a negligence lawsuit. Our nursing home abuse lawyers have helped thousands of families along their journey to justice after an injury or death inside a long term care facility. Below are 10 things to consider and expect if you decide to bring a claim against the at fault nursing home or ALF.
What to Expect in Your Nursing Home Abuse or ALF Negligence Case
-
You will not have to pay any up front costs or attorneys fees.
Our nursing home abuse law firm works exclusively on contingency fee. This means we advance all the case costs (records, expert witnesses, court costs) and we recover these costs only if we make a financial recovery for you. Additionally, we do not get paid by the hour or bill you for our time. Instead, we get a percentage of your total settlement or judgment, typically 33 1/3% to 40%. If you lose your case, you owe the firm nothing.
-
The legal process involving nursing home negligence cases is slow.*
Clients are usually surprised by just how slow an assisted living facility negligence case moves. This is not due to anything on the plaintiff’s end. The process begins with record collection, which can take months. Then, experts are required to review these records. After that, we can begin the pre-suit period. Following pre-suit notice, we can finally file the lawsuit, which begins the litigation process. This process can take years, depending on whether the case is tried before a jury or settled.
* the exception is if the family wants to work towards an early settlement and avoid litigation. If so, an out-of-court settlement can usually be reached within months, not years. -
Expect the facility to delay, deny and defend…
Our clients are shocked when a nursing home or ALF does not fess up to their mistake. No matter how egregious the incident is, we expect the facility management to conceal the wrongdoing and deny the injury was preventable. Additionally, expect delay tactics in the hopes you get tired of litigating, give up or die. This sounds terrible, but it is true.
-
… However, the truth can (and should) be found.
Just because it takes some time and energy, this is not reason for you to lose hope. The truth as to what happened inside the nursing home can, and should, be uncovered.
-
The nursing home records will be self-serving…
When filing a nursing home lawsuit, you should expect the nursing home records to be sanitized and self-serving. This means the facility chart will minimize as much as possible when discussing your loved one’s injury.
-
… But depositions can change everything.
Despite the records helping the facility, the employee depositions inevitably hurt the defense’s case. Because nursing homes and ALF’s generally hire low-wage nurses and aides, they usually do not do well under cross examination. In the event there is a cover up or inconsistency contained in the records, our attorneys highlight this and use it to establish the unreliability of the nursing home or ALF records.
-
You will be required to pay back Medicare and/or Medicaid out of your settlement or verdict.
Many are surprised to learn that CMS and Medicaid can (and will) assert a lien on any recovery you make. Do not let this prevent you from bringing the claim. These Medicare liens can be negotiated and only comprise a percentage of your settlement. For example, say you brought a case over a nursing home fall inside a facility. If the fall resulted in a broken hip and the hip surgery cost $20,000, Medicare would be entitled to recover a portion of what it paid. This lien amount will not be the total bill and can be reduced using a formula so that it only is a portion of the settlement. This is called subrogation.
-
Almost all nursing home negligence cases settle without a trial.
We are trial lawyers, and our attorneys are regularly in court. That being said, most nursing home negligence and ALF injury lawsuits settle without a trial. Last year, more than 93% of our cases settled without a trial.
-
Nursing home abuse cases average settlements in the high 5 figures to low 6 figures.
Each case is different and the individual facts and injuries drive the value of the case. Traditionally, cases against nursing homes and ALF’s settle for $50,000 on the low end and $250,000 on the high end. However, we have settled long term care cases for much more than this, and for less than this. It all depends on your case facts.
-
Most nursing home negligence cases are not brought just to recover money.
As civil justice attorneys, we sue for money. This is the only means to balance the harm done to your family member by the at-fault nursing home. However, most of our clients are not out just for money. They want to make sure this kind of incident does not happen to someone else’s father or mother. Taking a corporation’s money ensures that the highest levels of the organization pay attention to your case. This also guarantees an internal investigation and, hopefully, rectifying the error so that it does not occur in the future.
More Questions on a Potential Case Against a Nursing Home or Assisted Living Facility?
Our attorneys provide 100% free, no obligation case evaluations. Share your case facts with our office and we will discuss the pros and cons of bringing a case against the facility. Call us toll-free today: 1-844-253-8919.
Legal Nurse Consultant
