When you or a loved one is injured in a nursing home, it can be grounds for a lawsuit. Contacting a lawyer to help with your case should be step one, but it is important to understand how the process of suing a nursing home goes and what to expect in your case.
A claim starts with an investigation. We have to gather evidence to put into our complaint before filing it, at least enough to make out the basic framework of our case. From there, the case moves on to various motions, then discovery. In discovery, we can subpoena evidence and witnesses from the nursing home to get a look at internal records, depose witnesses, and get evidence to support your claim. A case can settle at any time, but if they refuse to pay, we can go to trial.
For help with your case, call our New Jersey personal injury lawyers right away at Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. at (201) 777-1111.
What You’ll Need to Prove
Before you can file a claim for abuse or neglect against a nursing home, you need some evidence to make out your basic case. At the initial stage, you just need enough evidence to support each element of the case, reading the claim in the best possible light for you.
Claims against a nursing home are usually based on intentional abuse or negligence.
Physical/Sexual Abuse
In a case of intentional abuse, you must prove that the nursing home or its staff intended to injure the resident and hit or otherwise assaulted them.
Negligence/Neglect
In a case of negligence or neglect, you instead need to show that…
- The nursing home owed the resident a duty of care.
- Their care fell below that standard, breaching that duty.
- That breach of duty caused their injuries.
- They suffered injuries and other damages.
Verbal/Psychological Abuse
You can also potentially sue for psychological or verbal abuse, though proving the harm is much harder than when the abuse is accompanied by visible physical injuries.
Basic Evidence Needed to File
As mentioned, we need to rest our initial claim on some basic evidence you can document and collect before even calling a lawyer, in many cases. Take the following steps if you suspect your loved one is being abused in a nursing home:
- Take notes about the reported abuse, including notes about what staff members were involved, when the events occurred, and what harm your loved one suffered.
- Take photos of any injuries or bruises.
- See if any witnesses are willing to back up the claim.
At that point, you should call us before taking any further steps to interrogate staff or demand records. We can take care of all of that for you during our own research.
Between your initial documentation and any evidence we can gather, we may be able to file the case at this stage.
Filing the Claim
When we file a claim, we write up a “complaint,” file it in court, and serve the defendant with a copy. This lays out the basic facts, as we know them. If we have met each element in our allegations, the case moves forward.
The defense will try to shut down the case by making legal arguments that we have not met the burden, or that their staff member was responsible without the nursing home facing liability. These can often be overcome, and the case can move forward.
Discovery, Subpoenas, and Depositions
One of the hardest parts of suing a nursing home is that much of the evidence is in their hands, and you have no access to it:
- Security footage
- Call bell records
- Staff duty logs and records
- Internal report records
- Past staff disciplinary records
- Medical notes about the resident’s injuries and appearance.
In the discovery stage, we can subpoena all relevant records and information the nursing home has. This means they need to turn everything over to us to examine, allowing us to build a stronger case.
It also allows us to interview witnesses in depositions and to put the power of the court behind the demands we make.
Settlement Negotiations
At the end of this stage, all the information we need to go to trial should be laid out before us. If the nursing home still thinks they can win the case, they might refuse to settle; otherwise, many defendants will relent at this point and offer a settlement to avoid having to go to trial.
Nursing homes are often willing to settle cases so that they do not need to pay more for their lawyers and spend time and resources defending the case at trial. They also typically want to avoid the public attention of a nursing home abuse trial.
That does not always mean their settlement will be fair. Our New Jersey nursing home abuse attorneys can negotiate and seek a fair settlement that covers the full damages.
Settlement offers can be made at any time, even before discovery. However, early settlement offers are often quite low, and defendants hope you will take them so they can avoid a higher settlement or jury verdict later.
Trial
If your nursing home injury case cannot be settled for a fair value, we can take the case to trial. At trial, both sides present their cases through witnesses, opening statements, and closing arguments to convince the jury their side is correct.
Juries decide the facts in a case, determining who is at fault. The judge is responsible for legal rulings, such as what evidence can be entered. Many of these legal issues will be resolved before trial so that the jury doesn’t get too much behind-the-scenes info.
If the jury is essentially 51% on your side, you will have met your burden of proof, and they will rule in your favor. The jury also sets the damages based on the evidence you present, such as medical bills and evidence of pain and suffering.
We can also ask for punitive damages at trial to punish the nursing home for their dangerous behavior, potentially getting higher damages that aren’t available in a settlement.
Call Our Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers in NJ Today
Call the New Jersey nursing home abuse attorneys at Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. at (201) 777-1111 for a free case review.