SAN GABRIEL, CALIF. (Oct. 1, 2011) — An uninsured skilled nursing home operator was found liable yesterday of abusing an elderly resident. After the jury returned a verdict that would have led to a $1.5 million liability and an expected punitive damage verdict in the range of $20 million soon to follow, Erwin Cablayan, shareholder of San Marino Manor, Inc., cavalierly advised the trial court that San Marino Manor had filed bankruptcy. San Marino Manor Inc. shareholder Erwin Cablayan and their legal team repeatedly attempted to stave off litigation by telling us he runs the nursing home without insurance,” says Long Beach elder abuse attorney Stephen M. Garcia of Garcia, Artigliere & Shadrack. “We have been tracking for about three to four months how they began transferring assets to a shell corporation, which put Erwin Cablayan’s son Kevin Cablayan ostensibly in charge,” Garcia said. “As if they had not already abused Mrs. Angelo enough, now they are going to try to defraud their way out of responsibility for abusing elders.” Garcia continues, “I’ve known since Day One that the Cablayans, as shareholders of Coordinated Care, would refuse to pay any verdict. They seemed to believe that this [...] read more 
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Uninsured Nursing Home Found Guilty of Elder Abuse Declares Bankruptcy Before Jury Returns With Damages
SAN GABRIEL, CALIF. (Oct. 1, 2011) — An uninsured skilled nursing home operator was found liable yesterday of abusing an elderly resident. After the jury returned a verdict that would have led to a $1.5 million liability and an expected punitive damage verdict in the range of $20 million soon to follow, Erwin Cablayan, shareholder of San Marino Manor, Inc., cavalierly advised the trial court that San Marino Manor had filed bankruptcy. San Marino Manor Inc. shareholder Erwin Cablayan and their legal team repeatedly attempted to stave off litigation by telling us he runs the nursing home without insurance,” says Long Beach elder abuse attorney Stephen M. Garcia of Garcia, Artigliere & Shadrack. “We have been tracking for about three to four months how they began transferring assets to a shell corporation, which put Erwin Cablayan’s son Kevin Cablayan ostensibly in charge,” Garcia said. “As if they had not already abused Mrs. Angelo enough, now they are going to try to defraud their way out of responsibility for abusing elders.” Garcia continues, “I’ve known since Day One that the Cablayans, as shareholders of Coordinated Care, would refuse to pay any verdict. They seemed to believe that this [...] read more $1.3 Million Judgment Against Torrance Assisted Living Facility For Elder Abuse
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. (Sept. 26, 2011) — On behalf of their client, a victim of elder abuse, Garcia Artigliere & Shadrack obtained a judgment in the amount of $1,311,593.67 against the assisted living facility Greenpark Villa, Inc. at 22607 Menlo Ave. in Torrance, Calif. Ruby Walters, by and through her Successor In Interest, Janet Calicchia; Janet Calicchia, an individual vs. Greenpark Villa, Inc. and DOES 1 through 250, inclusive (Case No. TC021878) was heard in front of the Hon. William Barry in Superior Court of California, South Central. The complaint alleged elder abuse and wrongful death. “In an effort to avoid responsibility, Greenpark Villa has threatened bankruptcy,” says Long Beach elder abuse attorney Stephen M. Garcia. “I am here to tell Greenpark Villa that Garcia Artigliere & Shadrack will continue to fight them, regardless of payment, in order to protect the health and safety of elder and infirm adults in the Torrance area.” read more Phoenix-Area Hospitals Ordered to Pay $15 Million in Bad Business Case
PHOENIX, ARIZ. (June 28, 2011) – Stephen M. Garcia of Garcia, Artigliere & Schadrack and Robert Boatman and Mark Deatherage of Gallagher & Kennedy brought in a $15 million arbitration award, including damages, costs, and attorney fees, with additional interest on the judgment, running at the rate of 10 percent from May 10, 2010 until the debt is paid off, in a business case against St. Luke’s Medical Center in Phoenix, Mesa General Hospital in Mesa, and both hospitals’ general partner, Iasis Healthcare of Franklin, Tenn. The three member arbitration panel issued a ruling for the plaintiff in Advanced Cardiac Specialists, Chartered, an Arizona professional corporation, Robert M. Siegel, M.D. and Barbara Barker-Siegel, M.D., husband and wife, and Apache Junction Hospital, L.L.C., an Arizona limited liability company vs. Iasis Healthcare Corporation, a Delaware corporation; Iasis Healthcare Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation; Iasis Healthcare, L.L.C., a Delaware limited liability company; Mesa General Hospital, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership; and St. Luke’s Medical Center, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership (Case No. CV2008-024082) “The real loser in this situation was the community,” says Garcia. “The community always loses out on badly needed quality healthcare facilities when a large out-of-state corporation attempts [...] read more Elder Mother Found In Back Yard Shed
A 54 year old Florida man has been arrested for elder abuse after authorities discovered his 84 year old mother living in squalor in the man’s back yard shed. The Florida Department of Children & Families is working to fine a safe home for the woman. The elderly woman was badly neglected living with no food, electricity or running water. She was severely malnourished, dehydrated and had a worm burrowing into her neck. People involved in the case were alarmed have been working hard to help the woman recuperate. read more $2 Million in Nursing Home Case
Florida’s Subacute Services Inc. has been ordered to pay $2million dollars for their role in the death of an 82 year old resident of Rockmart Nursing and Rehabilitation. The woman’s daughter brought a wrongful death suit against the nursing home and their management company believing that her mother’s care was neglected. Interestingly, the verdict was only against Subacute and jurors did not hold the Rockmart facility at fault. read more Florida State Senator Calls for Further Investigation
A Florida state senator Nan Rich is calling for a state investigation into deaths at Assisted Living Facilities, a move inspired by the investigative report published by the Miami Herald. The report detailed some horrendous incidents of abuse and neglect and death in Florida nursing homes. Rich aims discover the state regulators played in these cases. “I think a lot of these things happen when nobody is watching,” she told WUSF. And she would like to have the state inspect the assisted living facilities once a year instead of every two years as it now. read more Reactions to Nursing Home Investigative Report
The Miami Herald’s recent expose “Neglected to Death” has prompted many take notice of the nursing home conditions in Florida. The report listed a number of disturbing and unthinkable atrocities in the state’s nursing homes and found that “safeguards once hailed as the nation’s best have been ignored in a spate of tragedies never before revealed to the public.” In Sunday’s Orlando Sentinel, columnist Scott Maxwell takes a look a politicians and their role in this decline of Florida’s nursing homes. He suggests that “the politicians are actually the enablers.” One bill that thankfully didn’t pass actually would have made it harder for volunteer watchdog groups to visit facilities. He writes: “Obviously bad homes are not the standard. But the problems are more tragically common than they should be in a state with a big — and growing — elderly population. We have a wicked combination: more facilities — and yet fewer inspections, lower standards, less staffing and increasingly lax regulations. It is a recipe for disaster. And death.” read more Famous Actor Victimized by Stepchildren
Mickey Rooney, the well known actor, filed for restraining orders against his step children, claiming he and his wife have been victims of elder abuse. He is now 90 years old, but once was an active performer from vaudeville to films opposite Judy Garland. He is a well-loved film icon. Now, he and his wife have experienced verbal, emotional and financial abuse, and court documents say he was “effectively a prisoner in his own home.” The step children took over Rooney’s finances, prevented him access to his mail, and forced him into performances. Rooney testified before a Senate Committee on Aging to let people know, if it could happen to him, elder abuse could happen to anyone. In fact, experts say elder abuse and neglect is a growing a concern, and could come in various forms: psychological, physical, sexual or financial. The American Psychological Association estimates 2.1 million older Americans experience some type of elder abuse. read more Nursing Home Resident Attacked By Alligator
The Miami Herald’s investigation on the state’s nursing homes has unearthed some troubling stories, like what happened in 2004 at The Beckett Lake Lodge assisted living facility. They had a 75 year old patient who suffered dementia and more than once wandered off the premises. He had been found at a bank, and then condo complex. The facility failed to keep track of where he wandered which led to his gruesome death. He was missing for one week before they found him floating face down in the nearby lake, his body eaten on by alligators. The Agency for Health Care Administration investigated the incident and the nursing home, finding several violations. The nursing home received a citation but “in the end, no fines were imposed and no penalties issued.” The man’s daughter had never been informed of his previous escapes. She recently settled a lawsuit with the home for an undisclosed amount, but says she is still “haunted by whether her father was still alive when his body was attacked by the alligator.” (tampabay.com) read more Nursing Home Operator Ran a “Prison Camp”
Sunshine Acres Loving Care and assisted living facility in Florida’s Panhandle was run like a “prison camp” with condition “not even fit for a dog.” The owner-operator, Bruce Hall would deny resident food and medicine, threaten with beatings, and force tranquilizers. Florida regulators tried to step in in 2004 only to be chased off the premises. Regulators had the power to shut it down or suspend the facility’s license, but that didn’t happen. The opted instead to year-old to “send Hall to see a therapist for his anger and to promise not to use “any weapon or object” on his residents — allowing him to keep his doors open for five more years.” (tampabay.com) The years following his anger therapy, residents suffered atrocious conditions–no air conditioning in 100+ degree weather, sleeping in urine soaked beds, and one woman drown in a nearby pond. In a state where tens of thousands reside in assisted-living facilities, nursing homes used to be a source of pride –but things have changed for the worse. read more