SHREVEPORT, La. (Legal Newsline) – Wrongful death lawsuits over a COVID-19 breakout in a Louisiana nursing home will be heard in state court.
U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks on June 28 booted the cases out of his court, to which the defendants had sought transfer, and back to Caddo Parish District Court, where they were first filed by the plaintiffs.
The defendant Irving Place Associates, owner of Highland Place Rehab and Nursing Center, had argued the cases involved the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act and that federal officer removal was appropriate because individual defendants who work at the nursing home were acting in accordance with federal government protocols.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sent similar cases back to state courts while the plaintiffs’ motion to remand was pending in these. Defense counsel elected not to address those rulings with additional briefing, despite an invitation from Hicks to do so.
Hicks’ ruling affects eight cases, including one on behalf of the Estate of Annie Lee Becknell.
According to the complaint, Becknell was living in HPRNC to help manage long-term health issues. In 2020, the CDC began pushing information about COVID-19, and based upon the information provided at the time, COVID-19 was known to be a respiratory disease with no vaccination, the suit says.
On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared an international pandemic. Becknell was eventually exposed to COVID-19, despite the World Health Organization encouraging health care facilities to have enough Personal Protection Equipment for residents and to take certain precautions, the suit alleges. Becknell died on May 2, 2020.
The Third and Ninth circuits have also rejected the arguments made by HPRNC for federal jurisdictions.
One of the Fifth Circuit decisions cited by Hicks said the PREP Act does not completely preempt state-law negligence claims because the only cause of action it creates is for willful misconduct. The defendants had argued the PREP Act required plaintiffs to go through a victims fund for compensation, but the Fifth Circuit disagreed.