The Steele Law Firm

ADVANTAGES OF FEDERAL COURT IN KANSAS NURSING HOME CASES In an ideal world, justice would be equally and readily available no matter where a person is injured. This is especially true in nursing home abuse cases. Families place their loved ones in nursing homes so they can receive the care they need and deserve. It should not matter where the nursing home is located if they injure the very people they are supposed to be protecting. [ 280 more words ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/advantages-of-federal-court-/

In many cases it is very advantageous to get Kansas nursing home cases into Federal Court. Federal Court offers the ability to allege punitive damages in the complaint and entitles plaintiffs to a jury trial on punitive damages. Neither of these remedies are available at a state level. However, getting into federal court requires that the parties be diverse. Fortunately there is a common solution to this. [ 656 more words ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/federal-court-cases/

As people grow older, their needs often rise. Eventually their families cannot provide adequate care and seek outside help. Nursing homes are supposed to provide this care, but families often are unable to find the right home for their loved one. Fortunately, the Nursing Home Compare Tool on the Medicare website[1] can be very helpful and informative. Families start out on the website by entering their zip code, city, or state. [ 356 more words ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/nursing-home-compare/

Arbitration is supposed to be a way for two parties in a dispute to resolve the issue without going to court. It was designed to be optional and used when beneficial to both parties. Unfortunately, forced arbitration clauses are becoming too common in the healthcare industry. This is particularly true of nursing homes and long term care facilities. The result of this new development? [ 561 more words ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/forced-arbitration-cms-propo/

In nursing home litigation, it is not always possible to obtain all the information necessary or desired from the nursing home itself. Fortunately other ways of obtaining this information exists. Missouri allows for Sunshine Requests and Kansas has open records requests. These requests serve to allow plaintiffs to discover the information they need. This includes the nursing home licensure file which shows the owner of the facility, any management company, and other pertinent data. [ 443 more words. ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/sunshine-requests-and-open-r/

Nursing home surveys can be very helpful to plaintiffs in a nursing home negligence case. The surveys are done by a state agency to ensure that the nursing home is maintaining a safe and caring environment for its elder residents. If a nursing home is found to have violations, they may either appeal the results or institute a plan for correcting the deficiencies. [ 489 more words. ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/nursing-home-surveys/

When people think of a business owner, they imagine one person or perhaps a small group of people. This is often not the case with nursing homes. Many homes have restructured in a way to best avoid liability for their adverse actions. While running from the consequences of injuring elders may seem repugnant, this is the reality of the nursing home industry today. [ 345 more words. ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/liability-nursing-homes/

In nursing home negligence the nursing home often will try to argue that pressure ulcers are actually deep tissue injuries. This argument is essentially a claim that the injury was caused by something other than pressure building up on the area. This however is a very flawed argument, as deep tissue injuries and pressure ulcers are essentially the same thing. This is because both are caused by unrelieved pressure. [ 214 more words. ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/deep-tissue-v-pressure-injury/

Due to the complex chain of nursing home ownership, claims often are litigated in federal court. In some cases there can be an issue with establishing personal jurisdiction over the parent company of the nursing home. In order to establish personal jurisdiction a couple things must be present. First is that the defendant must be, amenable to service of process under the forum state's laws. [ 334 more words. ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/personal-jurisdiction-over-p/

Depositions can be very time-consuming and expensive, but are typically also crucial to a plaintiff’s case. The burden of depositions can be particularly cumbersome if defense attorneys instruct their client not to answer some questions. Fortunately for plaintiffs, the law actually prevents defense attorneys from giving this instruction in many cases. It specifically notes that the defense attorney’s presence and objections may not, unduly interfere with the orderly conduct of the interrogation. [ 504 more words. ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/not-to-answer-instructions/

For a brief time, it appeared as if plaintiffs in Missouri would be able to receive full compensation for their injuries. Unfortunately, this ruling from Watts v. Lester E. Cox Med. Ctrs did not last. SB 239 (codified as 538.210) modified medical negligence in Missouri. The act eliminated the common law cause of action and replaced it with a statutory cause. [ 421 more words. ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/damage-caps-mo/

Despite the fact that they have done damage to the Plaintiff, nursing homes often will try to further pry. Social media discovery requests from defense attorneys are becoming more and more common in litigation today. Defense attorneys often seek to go on a fishing expedition in hopes of finding something. Often times this is even after the Plaintiff has responded to interrogatories or requests for production by stating that nothing relevant exists on social media. [ 367 more words. ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/social-media-discovery-of-pl/

Even if it is not entirely prevalent, the Missouri Rules of Civil Procedure allow videotaping of depositions.[1] Specifically the Rule 57.03(c) notes that, [d]epositions may be recorded by the use of video tape or similar methods. The recording of the deposition by video tape shall be in addition to a usual recording and transcription method unless the parties otherwise agree. While videotaping depositions is allowable, certain requirements must be met. [ 506 more words. ] http://www.jsteelelawfirm.com/videotaping-depositions/