Posted January 31, 202511:34 am
By Lydia Kacala
The Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, in collaboration with Pro Seniors Inc. and The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, hosted a Nursing Home Consumer Law Litigation Update conference to share legal updates with Cleveland-area attorneys.
The panel was held on Dec. 5, 2024, on Zoom and was comprised of Philip Althouse, a senior attorney at The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, Anna Anderson, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center in Boston, and Miriam Sheline, managing attorney at Pro Seniors Inc. in Cincinnati.
During the meeting, two major categories were discussed – litigation defense, which included talking points on discharge proceedings, lawsuits against third parties and the Fraudulent Transfer Act, and affirmative litigation, which included talking points on resident rights, the Consumer Sales Practices Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Before applying the laws to situations and asking for audience participation, Sheline discussed the different resident rights, which can be separated into three different categories.
“(Resident rights) tend to break into three different categories – personal, financial and discharge rates,” Sheline said during the presentation. “Personal are going to be things like safe and clean living environments, adequate care, participating in your decisions, privacy (and) confidentiality. Then, when we talk about financial, that includes things like a full disclosure of the basic rate in any additional charges. There has to be a 30-day notice before there’s a change.”
Another financial right residents have is to receive an itemized bill, Sheline said. However, she finds that residents often have to request an itemized bill and will not simply be given it upon billing.
“The right to receive an itemized bill – this is always interesting with nursing homes because they won’t do it unless you specifically ask, and some of the itemizations I’ve seen over the years is very puzzling,” she said.
Residents also have the right not to be discharged or transferred unless the nursing home cannot meet the resident’s needs or level of care, there is a health or safety risk to others or the resident failed to pay for care, Sheline said. The discharge notice must include the reasons for the discharge, the proposed date, a recommendation for a location the resident can relocate to, and a notice of the right to an impartial hearing and manner in which and time frame within the request can be made.
The panel also focused on fraudulent transfers, or when a transfer made or an obligation incurred is fraudulent, and whether the claim of the creditor was made before or within four years after or if the debtor made the transfer or incurred the obligation with “actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud” or “without receiving a reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the transfer or obligation,” she said.
“Looking at the summary from Lifesphere v. Sahnd, basically you have to establish actual intent or that you made a transfer without receiving reasonable equivalent value and you reasonably should have believed you would incur beyond your ability to pay,” Sheline said.
While questions were taken throughout the event, panel members opened the floor to audience members for questions following the discussion.
Source: Cleveland Jewish News - Conference delivers updates on nursing home consumer laws