Confidential
Settlement – $70,000Facts
In 1992, the plaintiff's brother, the 70-year-old decedent, began rapidly deteriorating due to advanced multiple sclerosis and related health problems. In August 1992, the decedent's siblings hired a caregiver through a nurses registry. Eight months later, the defendant caregiver married the decedent. Three weeks later, the decedent changed his will, leaving his entire estate to the defendant. Soon thereafter, the defendant obtained the decedent's power of attorney. At the same time, she sought to gain access to a substantial trust, set up by the decedent's father in Michigan, which was the decedent's principle means of support. All the while, the defendant continued to render caregiver services to the decedent under her former name. Those services were billed from the nurses registry to the trust, and the trustee bank. The bank was unaware that the defendant caregiver had married the decedent. In 1994 the defendant's adult daughter moved in and rendered caregiver services under the auspices of the same nurses registry, with the trustee being unaware that these additional services were being provided by the decedent's stepdaughter. In 1994, the decedent grew increasingly ill and developed multiple decubiti. The defendant and her defendant daughter ignored warnings and recommendations by home health nurses that the decedent needed more than home care. In January 1995, the decedent was dropped off at a doctor's office by the defendants. The decedent was admitted to a hospital with infected decubiti and sepsis. After one week in the hospital, the decedent was transferred to a skilled nursing facility where he died March 17, 1995. The plaintiff's, the decedent's siblings, brought this action against the defendants, the decedent's wife and stepdaughter, based on malpractice, physical abuse, patient neglect, fiduciary abuse and fraud theories of recovery. The plaintiff bank, as trustee of the testamentary trust in which the decedent was a beneficiary, alleged fraud against the wife, step-daughter, and the nurses registry in terms of the monies they collected from the trust for caregiver services rendered while the caregivers were part of the decedent's family. Following demurrers, the plaintiffs were found to lack standing to allege malpractice and elder abuse since the only person who could assert such causes of action was the decedent's heir at law his spouse. Although the plaintiffs claimed that the defendant wife used undue influence in connection with the marriage, once the decedent had died, the marriage could not be challenged. The case went forward only on the fraud cause of action.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiffs made a settlement demand for $100,000. The defendant nursing registry made a settlement offer of $40,000.
Damages
The plaintiffs claimed $40,000 in economic damages, plus emotional distress damages.
Other Information
The settlement was reached approximately one year and four months after the case was filed. The defendant step daughter was dismissed prior to the settlement with the nursing registry. The defendant wife had three different defense counsel. Her status in the case was complicated by the fact that she had taken out nurses malpractice insurance. The carrier denied any obligation under the policy, yet paid defense costs. For a number of months, this defendant represented herself in pro per. A settlement conference before Judge Douglas Miller was unsuccessful. Trial was set for Feb. 24, 1997. But given the size of the earlier settlement, the insurnace coverage dispute and the declining health of the individual plaintiffs, the lawsuit was dismissed as to the defendant wife.
For reprint rights or to order a copy of your photo:
Email
jeremy@reprintpros.com
for prices.
Direct dial: 949-702-5390