Facts

Oakmont Senior Living facility is an assisted living facility for retirees and seniors which included the following communities: Oakmont of Capriana, Oakmont of Cardinal Point, Oakmont of Carmichael, Oakmont of Camarillo, Oakmont of Chino Hills, Oakmont of Concord, Oakmont of El Dorado Hills, Oakmont of Escondido, Oakmont of Fair Oaks, Oakmont of Folsom, Oakmont of Fountaingrove Lodge, Oakmont of Fresno, Oakmont of Huntington Beach, Oakmont of Mariner Point, Oakmont of Montecity, Oakmont of Orange, Oakmont of Pacific Beach, Oakmont of Redding, Oakmont of Roseville, Oakmont of San Antonio Heights, Oakmont of San Jose, Oakmont of Santa Clarita, Oakmont of Segovia, Oakmont of Stockton, Oakmont of Valencia, Oakmont of Varenna, Oakmont of Villa Capri and Oakmont of Whittier. Donald Lollock, Abdulwafi Khan, Frank Pearson, Jo Ella Nashadka, Kathleen Lollock, and Jane Burton-Whitaker, lived at one of Oakmont's senior facilities. They and through their guardian ad litem or executors, filed suit against Oakmont's senior facility and Oakmont Management Group in the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs contended that the California assisted living communities owned or operated by Oakmont made misleading statements and omissions about how resident evaluations would be used to determine, set and monitor staffing levels at its assisted living facilities in California. This practice resulted in monetary damages to the residents. Specifically, plaintiffs' complaint alleged claims for violations of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (California Civil Code Section 1750 et seq.), Unfair business practices (Business and Professions Code Section 17200), and Financial Elder Abuse (Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15610.30) in connection with defendants' alleged failure to provide the staffing levels at defendants' senior assisted living facilities as represented by defendants.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendant denied all contentions and did not admit to the truth of any allegations or liability with respect to the complaint or plaintiffs' contentions.

Settlement Discussions

Settlement negotiations began with a full day mediation with George Hernandez of ADR Services Inc. in San Francisco and a full day mediation with Richard Silver of JAMS in San Francisco. A follow-up and full-day mediation in December 2019 resulted in the settlement.

Result

In order to avoid the costs, disruption and distraction of further litigation, defendants agreed to settle the case for $9 million plus injunctive relief, which plaintiffs' counsel estimated would increase the total value of the settlement by $9,066,402. The injunctive relief provided for defendants to comply with certain California Code of Regulations Sections pertaining to: providing daily community resident care personnel that would sufficiently and competently provide for the services necessary to meet resident needs pursuant to 22 CCR 87411(a); providing sufficient resident care staff necessary to provide assistance and care to each resident in those activities of daily living that residents cannot do for themselves pursuant to 22 CCR 87608(a); and, providing adequate number of direct care staff to support each memory care resident's physical, social, emotional, safety and health care needs pursuant to 22 CCR 87705(c)(4). Moreover, the number of personnel required to perform these services in accordance with the requisite provisions will be based on each resident's most recent assessments and calculated according to the terms of the settlement.