From left, Nicholas Stadmiller, David Medby, Stephen Garcia, Jill Foster and William Artigliere
Garcia still remembers the family calling to ask for his help in an elder abuse case. That verdict, changed the course of Garcia's career.
"His voice didn't exist to that corporation that was supposedly charged with caring for infirm adults. It equally parts informed and incensed me," Garcia said.
Today, Garcia, Artigliere & Medby is known for handling some of the most complex and
egregious cases of elder neglect and mistreatment in the nation. The firm has acted
as lead counsel in more than 2,500 instances of elder abuse and tried more than 15
cases.
"Because we have so much experience, we have absolutely no fear of taking them to
trial any day of the week," he said.
Garcia describes elder abuse as a different kind of litigation that requires substantial,
clear and convincing evidence to win a favorable verdict. To overcome the obfuscation
and delay on behalf of defendants, the firm has developed a team of nearly 40 employees
who specialize in areas such as discovery and motions to compel.
Among other significant accomplishments, the firm won a $5.5 million verdict on behalf
of a 75-year-old elderly and infirm adult injured while residing at a residential
care facility, a $5.4 million verdict for an 87-year-old woman repeatedly sexually
molested by a co-manager of a residential care facility and a $750,000 settlement
for a 64-year-old woman with mental illness admitted to a hospital where she sustained
a broken neck that resulted in paralysis.
Garcia is currently serving as lead counsel in a high-profile class action against
the owner of 57 skilled nursing facilities throughout California. The suit claims
that the owner's healthcare company, Brius Management, committed fraud, unfair business
practices and misrepresented the quality of its care.
Recently, the firm has shifted its attention from assisted living and skilled nursing
facilities to include a rising level of abuse they are seeing in acute care hospitals,
Garcia said.
"That's really been the focus of our firm in the last 12 to 18 months. Whereas other
will not bring lawsuits against them, this is really where we are going to stop it,"
he said.
The firm is also working on a case involving a hospital in Palmdale, and its mistreatment
of the elderly. In one case, a client came to the firm saying their family member
had a predisposition to develop pressure sores, but the hospital did nothing to help
him for two weeks. They hadn't even developed a plan of care until the day he was
transferred, Garcia said.
Today, Garcia said his firm is pursuing twice as many cases as any other time during
his career.
"We are going to continue to grow as long as the problem exists," Garcia said. "We've
been able to be a loud voice for those voices that should be heard, especially for
a particularly vulnerable part of our population."
- RYAN VAN VELZER
#261315
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