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TALLAHASSEE — Investors who put up money to build nursing homes in Florida could be protected from certain lawsuits in a bill making its way through the Legislature.
Bill Hager, R-Delray Beach, is the sponsor of the bill, which the House Civil Justice Subcommittee approved by an 8-5 vote March 6. The bill would restrict defendants in lawsuits where nursing home residents were injured to nursing-home patient caregivers, companies that have licenses and management companies, according to a News Service of Florida report. Plaintiffs could no longer target nursing home investors who don't provide care.
Hager, according to the News Service, says the possibility of getting sued creates a “chilling effect” on investors. “Private capital is what facilitates these nursing homes,” Hager says. “This money doesn't show up from Mars. It shows up from investors.”
Some attorneys and advocates for nursing home residents oppose the bill, the News Service reports, saying it could make it harder for injured residents to recover money. “All this bill does is just immunize corporate decision makers from any accountability,” says Brian Lee, executive director of the advocacy group Families for Better Care and a former state long-term care ombudsman.
But Tampa attorney Kirsten Ullman, who defends nursing homes, described situations such as 10 defendants in a single case, according to the News Service. Ullman says investors and owners are getting sued and being forced to undergo depositions, even though they have nothing to do with giving care or operating the homes.
“They are not clinical, they don't have nursing responsibilities, they are not nurses,” says Ullman. “And they're being sued right out of the box.”
The bill next goes to the House Health Innovation Subcommittee. A similar bill has been filed in the Senate.
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