An appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit claiming the owner of 16 Alameda County nursing homes fails to meet California nurse-staffing standards.
A group of patients filed suit claiming Covenant Care nursing homes had violated staffing standards at least 35 percent of the time over a four-year period.
The San Francisco Chronicle says a Superior Court judge had agreed with Covenant Care lawyers that only state regulators had the authority to enforce a requirement that skilled nursing homes provide 3.2 hours of care per day to each patient. The case was dismissed.
But the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco reinstated the lawsuit on Wednesday, saying patients can sue nursing home operators for failing to meet the California standards.
