Colorado Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers - Significant Cases in the Health Care Area

Nursing home and other Health Care Cases

Kilbourne et al. v. O’Hara Rehabilitation Center.
This Denver District lawsuit resulted in the plaintiffs obtaining a 30 million dollar damages judgment in 2001 after arbitration with liability undisputed on behalf of some of the plaintiffs. The case was later confidentially settled after a second bad faith litigation against one of the involved insurance carriers. The District Court also recognized the plaintiffs’ claim that the Colorado Consumer Protection Act applied to nursing homes and regarding representations publicly made as to the care that will be provided to each resident.

Jahn ex rel. Jahn v. ORCR, Inc. 92 P.3d 984 Colo.,2004.   Actively assisted in the preparation of all briefs in this important extraordinary writ to the Supreme Court challenging  the dismissal of damage claims by nursing home residents who had been members of an earlier class action for injunctive relief to enforce promised staffing levels against O’Hara Rehabilitation Center.  This class action was mooted with the closure of the facility under the weight of regulatory pressure. The Supreme Court held that the dismissal of the resident’s claims even though they had never been notified of the former class proceeding nor provided an opportunity to intervene or request exclusion from the class violated due process. All claims were ordered reinstated.

In Re Estate of Michael Patrick Smith v. Heckler, 747 F.2d. 583 (10th Cir. 1984).
This class action successfully challenged the former paper compliance focus of the Medicaid nursing home inspection system and resulted in an order compelling the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to implement the current resident-focused inspection system nationwide. The case also was one of the sparks, which lead to the passage of OBRA 87, the national Nursing Home Reform Act. Judge Matsch supervised the implementation of this reform, invalidating government proposals several times and finally holding the Secretary of Health and Human Services in contempt of court in a published opinion, which led to complete government cooperation with the national inspection system change. On the damages side of the case, after years of litigating, with the former owners in bankruptcy, the surviving disabled and elderly residents of Heritage House Nursing home divided a several million dollar insurance settlement which permitted a number of them to buy their own homes and live independently. This case was also the subject of a Warner Brothers Sunday Night TV movie called When you Remember Me, which starred Fred Savage and Kevin Spacey.

Rogers v. Atencio, 608 P.2d 812 (Colo. App. 1979).
This class action resulted in the judicially mandated creation and maintenance of the first home care program in Colorado.

Duc Van Le v. Ibarra, 843 P.2d 15 (Colo. 1992).
This class action resulted in the creation of home care services eligibility for persons suffering from mental illness. Prior thereto, only the elderly and physically disabled were being included in Colorado’s home care program.

Kohn v. Julia Temple. 170 F.R.D. 474 (D. Colo. 1996).
This group case resulted in a substantial settlement for a group of nursing home residents and also established the right of groups of nursing home residents to join together in a single lawsuit arising out of common nucleus of operative facts. It also established the right of such residents to have access to facility incident reports.

Osment v. Heritage Rehabilitation Center.
This Denver District Court group case likewise resulted in a substantial settlement for 11 nursing home residents.

Bowie v. Denver General Hospital. 78 M 1186 (D. Colo.)
This class action resulted in an injunction preventing Denver General from collecting 18 million dollars in bills because it had completely failed to program into its billing system a state mandated ability to pay scale.

Civil Rights and Other Significant Cases

Miales v. McDonald's Restaurants of Colorado, Inc.
438 F. Supp. 2d, 1297 (D.Colo.,2006). Federal District Judge Walker Miller denied motion to summary judge this punitive damages race discrimination claim under 42 U.S.C. 1981 for an alleged refusal by a McDonald's manager to sell food to or serve an African-American family. The Court held that the plaintiffs' showing of their humiliating public racial verbal assault required a jury trial concerning the company's intent to racially discriminate against them by interfering with their "same right as is enjoyed by white citizens" to make and enforce contracts.

Guantanamo Bay Detainees.
We represent 3 detainees who have been held for several years in Guantanamo Bay without being criminally charged and without access to Courts. We have filed habeas corpus proceedings for each of our clients.

In so doing we have joined with what is now several hundred lawyers from large and small practices all over the country to represent the almost 300 prisoners remaining in this "prison beyond law". We have now been to Guantanamo Bay several times. The case is being coordinated by the Center for Constitutional Rights.

In 2007, we traveled to Mauritania, in northwest Africa, to engage in negotiations with the Mauritanian government and candidates running for president on behalf of two of our Guantanamo clients. In September 2007, Mohammed Al Amin was released from Guantanamo Bay and flown home. He is now living free.

North et al v. Gilpin County, et al.
Just under a million  dollar settlement, accompanied by a written apology,  for two first amendment protected whistleblowers who were fired after they publicly exposed malfeasance in the handling of government moneys by the Gilpin County Assessor’s office which  also resulted in the Assessor’s conviction for malfeasance  and forced removal from office.

Atlantis v. Adams, (D. Colo.)
This federal class action against RTD to mandate the equipping of all new buses with wheelchair accessible lifts resulted in a settlement on appeal in which RTD agreed to retrofit the well over 200 buses at issue in the lawsuit with lifts. RTD and Denver have both gone on respectively to become the most accessible transit and metropolitan areas in the nation.

Roy Smith v. Gilpin County, 949 F. Supp 1498 (D. Colo. 1996)
This was an extraordinary case of alleged racial hatred and government indifference to it. The case was featured on a Friday night 20-20 by Barbara Walter’s called Roy Smith’s America. It was also the subject of a documentary film by Jerry Kulhman shown at the Denver Film Society that was called Roy Smith.

Johnson v. Jefferson County Board of Health, 662 P.2d 463 (Colo. 1983), Johnson v. District Court, 674 P.2d 463 (Colo. 1984).
This was a case about the firing of a public health officer for uncovering the leaking of plutonium from the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plan and publicizing the same, forestalling the development of the northern third of Jefferson county. This case was twice determined by the Colorado Supreme Court, with the court first strongly adopting the First Amendment Constitutional principle that workers cannot be terminated for whistle blowing in the public interest, and then setting the test for disqualification of judges for civil cases.

Popovich v. Irlando, 811 P.2d 379 (Colo. 1991).
This landmark case established that co-workers in Colorado can sue each other for sexual and racial harassment or discrimination or other outrageous conduct on the job without being barred by the so called Worker’s Compensation exclusivity rule

Medina v. City and County of Denver, 960 F 2d 1493 (10th Cir. 1992)
This case established for the first time in Colorado that recklessly indifferent or shockingly abusive high speed chases by police are actionable under the Federal Civil Rights Act.

Daigle v. Shell, 972 F. 2d 1527 (10th Cir. 1992).
This case involved the adoption of strict liability principles for the first time in an environmental pollution case in Colorado.

Brunnetti v. I.R.S. 999 F. Supp. 1408 (D.Colo. 1998)
In this case, the Court recognized the right of an I.R.S. revenue agent to sue a co-worker supervisor for outrageous sexual harassment.

ISKCON v. United Pentecostal Church.
Obtained an injunction in Denver District Court against church leaders who felt they had a right to interfere with the distribution of religious literature at the airport by an Indian religious group. The church leaders were held in contempt twice before they complied.

El Fujitivo v. City of Westminster et al (D.Colo.)
Obtained an injunction and $500,000 in damages against Westminster for racially targeting a Hispanic nightclub and its clientele.

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