Lawsuits

brius-nursing-homes-schlomo-rechnitz-lawsuitsNursing home residents and family members allege that Brius’ profit-driven approach to long-term care has led to a chronic pattern of substandard care. This pattern has resulted in a string of government sanctions and has exposed Brius to a series of lawsuits, including several actions filed by the California Attorney General. For example, in August 2014 the California Attorney General filed an emergency motion to block Brius’ acquisition of 19 distressed nursing homes. In a separate case, the Attorney General brought felony involuntary manslaughter charges as a result of the death of a resident at one of Brius’ nursing homes.

2023

  • On June 21, 2023, the Department of Justice announced that Alta Vista Healthcare & Wellness Centre, LLC, a 99-bed skilled nursing facility located in Riverside, CA, and its management services company, Rockport Healthcare Services, agreed to pay $3.8 million to settle kickback allegations brought by a whistleblower. The skilled nursing facility and its management services company faced False Claims Act charges of paying physicians to send them more patient referrals over an 11-year period, according to the Department of Justice. It alleged that from 2009 through 2019, Alta Vista, “under the direction and control of Rockport,” gave some physicians gifts including expensive dinners, golf trips, massages, tablets, and gift cards worth up to $1,000.

2021

  • On August 26, 2021, a civil lawsuit filed in Shasta County’s Superior Court of California alleges that Shlomo Rechnitz and several other individuals and/or entities are responsible for the COVID-related deaths of some 24 elderly and dependent residents at Windsor Redding Care Center. On July 8, 2016, the California Department of Public Health denied Rechnitz’s request to permanently operate Windsor Redding Care Center and an additional four other Windsor-owned skilled nursing facilities, citing that over the previous three years (6/22/2013 – 6/22/2016) Brius had amassed a whopping 386 serious patient care violations. Despite the CDPH’s ruling, Rechnitz and his management companies continued to operate the skilled nursing facility as an “unlicensed owner-operator”, according to the lawsuit.

2020

  • On March 30, 2020, attorneys for Lidice Diaz, filed a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles County’s Superior Court of California alleging Pomona Healthcare and Wellness Center, LLC., dba Park Avenue Healthcare & Wellness Center, wrongfully terminated Diaz, the nursing facility’s former Director of Business Development, after refusing to participate in the facility’s alleged patient dumping of Medi-Cal residents.

2018

  • A lawsuit filed on June 12, 2018, alleges Alameda Health & Wellness Center, a 166-bed skilled nursing facility located in Alameda, CA, knowingly understaffed to maximize profits.This case is among 15 class-action lawsuits alleging purposeful understaffing at 15 nursing homes around Southern California and the Bay Area filed by elder abuse law firm Garcia, Artigliere & Medby and The Arns Law Firm.The Alameda lawsuit, filed on behalf of petitioner Cathy Campbell, a former resident who died tragically due to complications from a severe pressure sore, alleges the facility knew that understaffing exposed Campbell and the home’s other residents to “life-threatening injuries.”The lawsuits name a number of defendants, including Shlomo Rechnitz, California’s largest nursing home owner, the nursing home, and Rockport Administrative Services LLC, a consulting company with a number of Rechnitz’s facilities as clients.

2017

  • On November 16, 2017, the law firm of Janssen Malloy, LLP, filed a civil lawsuit in Humboldt County’s Superior Court of California alleging Granada Rehabilitation and Wellness Center failed to follow the care plan for one of its residents, Jeannette Sharp. The nursing home’s failure resulted in Ms. Sharp dying at a nearby acute care hospital on April 4, 2017, according to court documents.Ms. Sharp, who suffered from dementia and was completely dependent on staff for all of her needs, was first admitted to the nursing home on November 1, 2010. At the time of her admission, she was 79 years of age. Ms. Sharp’s care plan included monitoring her for abdominal distension, impaction, and the consistency and frequency of her bowel movements all with the goal that she has a bowel movement every two to three days, according to the lawsuit. On April 4, 2017, Ms. Sharp was admitted to a nearby acute care hospital where physicians discovered she was suffering from fecal impaction the size of, “eight month pregnant uterus,” according to the lawsuit.”The operating physicians captured 3-4 liters of fecal matter from Ms. Sharp’s colon with more spilling into her abdominal cavity,” court documents state. “Because of the severity of her fecal impaction, Mrs. Sharp died shortly after the surgery.”The lawsuit also names Brius CEO Shlomo Rechnitz among the defendants.
  • On September 26, 2017, Jeffrey Aronson, a former nursing home administrator at two Brius nursing homes, has filed a wrongful termination complaint against the nursing home corporation and its owner Shlomo Rechnitz, as well as Rockport Administrative Services, LLC – the administrative services firm Rechnitz partners with to provide “professional services” to many of his Brius facilities. Rockport is owned by Steven Stroll. Aronson’s attorney, Stephen Garcia of the firm Garcia, Artigliere & Medby, filed the complaint in the Superior Court of California’s Central District (Los Angeles County). The court document alleges that Aronson was put on probation and later fired after he alerted Rechnitz that the facility he ran, and which Rockport provided “professional services” to, had been inflating its staffing figures in reports to state regulators. In an April 3, 2015 email to Rechnitz, Jeff Arsonson, the recently-hired administrator of the California Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Palm Springs, wrote that the facility had been counting nurses working in entirely different departments in the staffing ratios they reported to government agencies. The “unlawful and fraudulent reporting of inflated nursing staff ratios,” the complaint alleges, “fraudulently inflated staffing numbers to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the California Department of Health (DPH), the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) and other government agencies, and also raised quality of care issues.” The facility had reported a staffing ratio of 3.77 direct caregivers per patient day – well above the state’s minimum requirement of 3.2, according to the complaint.
  • On June 21, 2017, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) with the National Labor Relations Board determined that Brius’ Four Seasons Healthcare and Wellness Center (North Hollywood, CA) violated the National Labor Relations Act when it asked its employees to sign an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) agreement as a condition of their employment. The ALJ found that the nursing home’s ADR agreement stripped its employees of the ability to join a class-action lawsuit against their employer over disputes relating to their employment, obligating them instead to enter arbitration hearings. The ALJ’s decision appears to arise from a dispute in which the nursing home failed to pay the employee for all hours worked. The ALJ’s decision forces Brius’ North Hollywood nursing home to end its unlawful ADR policy, to make its rescission known to past and current employees who signed the agreement, and to withdraw a motion in Superior Court that has blocked employees’ class-action suit.
  • On May 10, 2017, a lawsuit was filed in Humboldt County’s Superior Court on behalf of Marie White, a former resident at Eureka Rehabilitation and Wellness Center (Eureka, CA). According to the lawsuit, the Brius-owned nursing home repeatedly withheld required care from Marie White, a frail and elderly resident who suffered from dementia, and blindness in both eyes. The nursing home’s care plan indicated that White be accompanied by staff when walking or using the bathroom. On August 28, 2016, White went to the bathroom unassisted by a nursing home staff member. While attempting to lower herself onto the toilet, White mistakenly reached for and grabbed onto a spring rod that was temporarily set in place to hold the door open while the floor dried. The spring rod gave way, and Marie White went crashing to the floor. White suffered a fractured arm as a result of her fall. The lawsuit, which seeks damages on six causes, including alleged elder abuse, and under-staffing, is related to a series of eight Class A citations issued to the nursing home by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on February 28, 2017. The eight citations, which total $160,000 in penalties, were given to Eureka Rehabilitation and Wellness Center for patient care violations stemming from low staffing levels and poor oversight.
  • On April 12, 2017, an amended lawsuit was submitted in Humboldt County’s Superior Court on behalf of the family of Ralph Sorensen, a former resident at Brius’ Seaview Rehabilitation and Wellness Center (Eureka, CA) who passed away as a result of complications to pressure sores acquired while a resident at the nursing home. The wrongful death lawsuit alleges the nursing home, Rockport Healthcare Services, Brius, and Shlomo Rechnitz of under-staffing, neglect, and elder abuse.
  • On March 10, 2017, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed in Humboldt County’s Superior Court on behalf of the family of Randy Kruger, a former resident at Brius’ Eureka Rehabilitation and Wellness Center (Eureka, CA) who passed away as a result of complications to pressure sores acquired while a resident at the nursing home. According to the lawsuit, the Brius facility failed to properly treat a pressure sore that formed on Kruger’s tailbone in August 2016. Three months later Kruger died of a bone infection and pneumonia. The lawsuit, which lists the nursing home, Rockport Healthcare Services, Brius, and Shlomo Rechnitz as named defendants, seeks damages for wrongful death, negligence, and elder abuse under California’s Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act.
  • On March 10, 2017, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed in Humboldt County’s Superior Court on behalf of the family of Alan Dewey, a former resident at Brius’ Eureka Rehabilitation and Wellness Center (Eureka, CA). Dewey, who suffered from dementia, blindness and a seizure disorder, had been living at the nursing home for nearly two years before he was evicted, deposited, and left alone in a local hotel room where he died four days later, according to the lawsuit. Earlier in the year, state regulators penalized the nursing $160,000 for substandard care that stemmed from chronic understaffing.

2016

  • On November 30, 2016, a lawsuit was filed in Humboldt County’s Superior Court on behalf of the family of  Ralph Sorensen, a former resident at Brius’ Seaview Rehabilitation and Wellness Center (Eureka, CA) who passed away as a result of complications to pressure sores acquired while a resident at the nursing home. Sorensen, a wheelchair-bound 76-year old, was admitted to the nursing home on November 18, 2015, to rehabilitate from a recently replaced aortic valve. Sorensen showed no signs of pressure sores at the time of his admission but was placed on a care regimen that included checking for signs of skin breakdown and the development of pressure sores. On December 2, 2015, a CNA noticed a pressure ulcer on Sorenson’s right buttock but failed to measure or document the wound. That same date, Sorensen began running a fever. By December 7th, Sorensen’s fever, which by then had reached 102 degrees, was accompanied by increasing tremors. On December 8th, an ambulance rushed Sorensen to a nearby hospital’s emergency room where it was revealed that he had a Stage IV pressure sore and MRSA.  After “lengthy treatment to save his life, Ralph Sorensen died on January 27, 2017,” according to the lawsuit. The CDPH issued two Class A citations and  $40,000 in penalties to the nursing home for failing to report the change in Sorensen’s condition to his primary physician and family, and for failing to provide treatment for or prevention of a pressure sore.  The wrongful death lawsuit, which lists the nursing home, Rockport Healthcare Services, and Shlomo Rechnitz as named defendants,  alleges the nursing home of under-staffing, neglect, and elder abuse.
  • According to the Los Angeles Times, in February 2016, the family of a 78-year-old former resident at Brius’ Mesa Verde Post Acute Care Center (Costa Mesa, CA) filed a “wrongful death lawsuit alleging elder abuse, negligence, and neglectful hiring and supervision.” The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, states that the Brius nursing home “took the money, accepted the known responsibility for him, and then failed miserably to provide Sebastian his required care that needlessly resulted in his death.”

2015

  • In August 2015, the Attorney General’s Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse charged the former top nursing home administrator and nurse manager at Mesa Verse Post Acute Care Center (Costa Mesa, CA) with four misdemeanor counts each of inflicting injury on an elder adult and failing to report elder abuse (Sacramento Bee, 2015).
  • In August 2015, the California Attorney General filed involuntary manslaughter charges over the death of a nursing home resident who allegedly received “grossly negligent” care at Brius’ Verdugo Valley Skilled Nursing & Wellness Centre (Montrose, CA) (Sacramento Bee,  Arrest Warrant).  According to the Sacramento Bee investigation, Verdugo Valley is one of Brius’ most problematic facilities, earning the federal government’s lowest one-star rating. Officials logged 42 federal health deficiencies at the facility during the most current inspection cycle, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Only three of the state’s roughly 1,200 nursing homes had more health deficiencies during that period.
    • 2015-08-13 – California AG files felony complaint for arrest warrant of Verdugo Valley Skilled Nursing & Wellness Centre, LLC, the nursing home’s Director of Nursing, and its Nurse Supervisor.
    • 2015-08-14 – California AG accuses Verdugo Valley Skilled Nursing & Wellness Centre, LLC, of involuntary manslaughter; the nursing home’s Director of Nursing with dependent-adult abuse causing death; and the nursing home’s Nurse Supervisor of dependent-adult abuse causing great bodily harm for its grossly negligent care of a nursing home resident.
  • In June 2015, according to this Sacramento Bee article, Brius’ South Pasadena Convalescent Hospital (South Pasadena, CA) was hit with 24 state citations and $195,000 in fines. The California Department of Public Health imposed the penalties for multiple violations including 1) unsanitary and unsafe living conditions, 2) failing to prevent the development of pressure sores, 3) failing to identify hazards and risks to residents, and 4) failing to ensure that each resident receives adequate supervision and assistive devices to prevent incidents. The latter two failures resulted in one mentally ill resident checking herself out from the facility and committing suicide. Art Miller, South Pasadena Police chief, denounced the facility as a “cesspool” and a “community menace” while it was under Brius’ control.

2014

  • On November 11, 2014, the California Department of Public Health called for the immediate temporary suspension of Brius’ license to operate Wish-I-Ah Healthcare & Wellness Center (Auberry, CA), the suspension of operations at the facility, and, following the conclusion of legal proceedings, a full revocation of its license to operate the facility. This call came after significant issues such as the death of one of the nursing home’s residents as a result of poor staff training, badly maintained facility infrastructure that included a badly functioning sewage system that forced staff to handle human waste physically, and residential living conditions that placed nursing home residents in peril.
    • 2014-11-13 – State of California alleges “a pattern inimical to health, morals, welfare, and safety of its patients” at Wish-I-Ah Healthcare and Wellness Center (Auberry, CA).
  • On October 10, 2014, Raymond Foreman, a former resident at one of Brius’ nursing homes, filed a class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of himself and current and/or former residents at Brius’ California nursing homes alleging that Shlomo Rechnitz, Brius, and the network of long-term care facilities under their control “did not devote sufficient financial resources to the proper operation of their skilled nursing facilities, did not devote sufficient financial resources to protect the health and safety of residents and ensure resident rights were not violated, and instead diverted those resources to create ill-begotten profits.”
    • 2014-10-07 – This class action lawsuit alleges Shlomo Rechnitz, Brius, and Brius’ California nursing homes of violating its nursing home residents’ rights.
  • In August 2014, the California Attorney General filed an emergency motion seeking to block Brius’ acquisition of 19 nursing homes due to its “history of failing to comply with laws and regulations enforced by [the Department of Health Care Services] and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”
    • 2014-08-28 – California Attorney General refers to Shlomo Rechnitz and Brius as a “serial violator of rules within the skilled nursing industry.”

2012

  • In 2012, federal agents from the FBI, IRS, California Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services carried out a raid on a South Pasadena nursing home operated by Brius at the time. From 2010 to 2012, local police officers responded to 65 calls for police service at the nursing home, many of which included criminal investigations (Pasadena News Now; Pasadena Star News).

2011

  • In 2011, the California Attorney General’s Office announced the indictments of Verdugo Valley Skilled Nursing & Wellness Centre and its former administrator on charges of “felony abuse and neglect after the death of a patient.” According to the press release, a Los Angeles County criminal grand jury handed down indictments in June of 2011, saying the actions of the facility and the administrator “caused the death” of the resident.  The former nursing home resident, who had a history of severe mental illness, had made several attempts on his life while at the long-term care facility before killing himself in 2009 by pulling the pin on a handheld fire extinguisher, putting his mouth on the nozzle before pulling the trigger, sending the contents therein racing down his throat. In 2012, the state’s Attorney General office agreed to drop the charges in exchange for placing the facility under a three-year court injunction requiring ongoing monitoring, according to press reports (Los Angeles Times, 2011).