How Can I Find Prior Nursing Home Lawsuits?
Looking for other civil cases against your nursing home? Searching for lawyers who sued the nursing home you believe to be negligent? Our attorneys explain how to research the dockets of the relevant court to review other lawsuits against your nursing home.
(For part I of the “Researching Nursing Home” series describing, “How do I View Nursing Home Inspection Reports in Florida”, click here)
(For part II of the “Researching Nursing Home” series describing, “What Can I Learn From Nursing Home Inspection Reports”, click here)
The Researching Nursing home series is focused on learning unbiased information about nursing homes. In Part I, you learned how to access inspection reports. In Part II, we showed you how to analyze these reports. In Part III, we will discuss how to find prior nursing home lawsuits.
Finding the Search Page for Prior Nursing Home Lawsuits
First, you need to determine what county the nursing home is in. Next, google the county of the nursing home plus the words “clerk of court”. As an example, if the nursing home is in Broward County, you have a Broward County nursing home abuse case. So you should google “Broward County Clerk of Court” which will take you to this page.
Next, you want to find the civil records, because nursing home cases are generally civil cases. It is important to note that each county website can be different. For example, in Broward County, you should click the blue button that says “Case Search” which will lead you to this page. Then you will choose the “Business Name” tab at the top, and choose “Civil” from the “Court Type” dropdown menu. Some counties can be more complex. For example, if you have an Orlando nursing home abuse case, you would search in Orange County. On the Orange County Clerk of Court site, first you must click on the “Civil Courts” tab which will lead you to this page. Then you need to click the green button on the right which says “Search Online Court Records” which leads to this page. In the box on the left, there is a hyperlink to “Civil Case Records”. Clicking that hyperlink will finally lead you to the proper search page. While each county may have a different set of steps, they are all similar – you need to find a way to search for civil cases and be able to input the correct business name for the nursing home.
Finding the Actual Business Name for a Nursing Home
Once you have found the appropriate search page for civil records, you need to input the name of the nursing home. Many of the county clerk pages require precise spelling and punctuation to find prior nursing home lawsuits. To find the correct name for a nursing home, refer back to the Florida Health Finder page we discussed in Part I. If you follow those directions, you will arrive on a page with the nursing home’s legal name. Input that name in the relevant box on the search page for civil cases, and you will be able to read documents from prior nursing home lawsuits.
What Can You Learn from Prior Nursing Home Lawsuits
Now that you have located prior nursing home lawsuits against a nursing home, you can learn a lot about the facility. First, you can read the complaint, which is the Plaintiff’s allegations against the nursing home. A complaint may allege that the plaintiff suffered a fall, a bedsore, or wrongful death, among other claims. By reviewing recent cases, you can see whether a nursing home is getting sued frequently, and for what types of claims. When you utilize this information with the inspection reports we discussed in Part II, you can start seeing patterns of neglect or unsafe conditions in a nursing home. Additionally, you can learn about the way the nursing home deals with lawsuits – whether they settle most cases or take them to trial.
Conclusion
At the conclusion of this three part series, you can now find inspection reports, read inspection reports, and read prior nursing home lawsuits. Using these tactics, you can get an uncensored look at a nursing home to determine whether they are more at risk for neglect or abuse.
More Questions?
We can help. Our nursing home abuse attorneys have decades of experience and focus on this practice area. Let our compassionate and experienced lawyers help you today. Call Senior Justice for your free case consultation by calling 561-717-0817.
