Screening Nursing Home Cases: Doing Your Best Work and Knowing When to Say No

Nursing home litigation can contemporaneously be one of the most satisfying and challenging areas of consumer advocacy. These are extraordinarily time consuming and expensive claims to prosecute. One bad case can monopolize a practice and drain its line of credit. Worse, a poorly chosen claim can soil a practitioner's reputation in this very small legal community – and in turn, harm one's other clients at the negotiation table.

More than in many other fields, an unsupportable nursing home case can look meritorious and appealing but, in this field, reputation and credibility are everything. Strong cases, and knowing what they are, is a necessary foundation of any practice, while weak cases will cause it to crumble. This program will demonstrate the most effective strategies in weeding through intakes and building a successful nursing home practice.

Learning Objectives:

1. Analyze the basic principles of nursing home litigation
2. Identify the foundational claims that can support a nursing home case
3. Avoid hitting statutes of limitations, which can be a moving target
4. Discuss the critical importance of the victim's family
5. Review the components of the screening and review process
6. Estimate the true cost of properly litigating a nursing home case
7. Address liens and their impact upon litigation
8. Know when and how to say no, ethically and compassionately