October 20, 2022
A California family claiming a nursing home should have done more to prevent the COVID-19 death of their relative says the facility is asserting a circuit split that does not exist in an effort to sway the U.S. Supreme Court to determine a federal health emergency statute preempts their state law negligence claims.
September 01, 2022
A California-based nursing facility wants the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit ruling that a suit over the COVID-19 death of a resident had to play out in state court, arguing that there is a circuit split about the reach of a federal health emergency law invoked during the coronavirus pandemic.
April 18, 2022
The Ninth Circuit said Monday it won't reconsider its precedential February ruling that a suit over the COVID-19 death of a resident at a Southern California nursing home must play out in state court and was not preempted by the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act.
March 25, 2022
A California-based nursing facility asked the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday for an en banc review of a decision ordering it to face a COVID-19 wrongful death suit in state court, contending that the panel opinion misused U.S. Supreme Court precedent and should have found that a federal emergency law preempts state-law claims.
March 02, 2022
The Ninth Circuit's recent ruling that a COVID-19 wrongful death suit against a nursing home is not preempted by a federal health emergency law is a big win for nursing home residents in a key region, but plaintiffs' attorneys said the industry won't stop its attempts to keep the suits federal until the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in.
February 22, 2022
The Ninth Circuit unanimously ruled Tuesday that a Southern California nursing home must face claims it caused a resident's COVID-19 death in state court, saying a federal health emergency law didn't completely preempt the claims, and that the home wasn't operating under the authority of the federal government.
January 03, 2022
A U.S. Supreme Court case over the scope of Medicaid repayments a state can extract from an injured plaintiff's payout and a looming trial in the Kobe Bryant crash site photos suit are among the cases injury and malpractice attorneys will be following in 2022.
October 21, 2021
The Ninth Circuit cast doubt Thursday on two Southern California nursing homes' attempts to have coronavirus-related wrongful death suits heard in federal court, saying a federal health emergency law providing a liability shield for covered entities didn't seem to fit the circumstances of the cases.
October 20, 2021
A Southern California nursing home accused of causing a resident's COVID-19 death faces an uphill battle when it tries Thursday to convince the Ninth Circuit that a federal health emergency law preempts the claims, as dozens of federal courts across the country have ruled that the law does not.
July 07, 2021
The first precedential rulings for coronavirus injury and wrongful death cases are on the horizon as a number of federal appellate courts are set to decide whether such litigation should be heard in federal court under the Federal Officer Removal Statute or in the state courts where the suits originated.