SCRANTON – A federal magistrate judge’s report and recommendation has been adopted in full, in a wrongful death lawsuit brought against a Shohola nursing home which alleged that negligent care on its part and that of others, led to the death of the plaintiff’s husband.
Jeanne M. Hamill (individually and as Administratrix and Administratrix ad Prosequendum of the Estate of Eugene Hamill, deceased) of Toms River, N.J. first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Feb. 10, 2020 versus Twin Cedars Senior Living, LLC and Tamara B. Singer (doing business and also known as “Twin Cedars Senior Living”) of Shohola, John/Jane Doe Attorney and Little Walker Holdings, LLC (doing business and also known as “Twin Cedars Senior Living”), of Brooklyn, N.Y.
(Blaire Realty, LLC of Shohola, Jacob Gutman, Gary Rohinsky and Shohola Realty, LLC of Brooklyn, N.Y. were later added as defendants to and subsequently, dismissed from the case.)
“Jeanne Hamill brought this case on behalf of her deceased husband on Feb. 10, 2020, and filed an amended complaint on March 17, 2020, which is currently the operative pleading in this case. The amended complaint alleges that Eugene Hamill became a resident of Twin Cedars on July 6, 2018. Mr. Hamill had several serious medical diagnoses, including hypertension, atrial fibrillation, and coronary artery disease, among others, and was required to wear a cardiac life vest,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson stated, in a prior report.
“The complaint further alleges that on Sept. 11, 2018, Twin Cedars made arrangements to discharge Mr. Hamill from the facility. These arrangements allegedly included a three-hour Uber ride from Twin Cedars to Mr. Hamill’s home in Toms River, New Jersey. The complaint further alleges that Defendant Singer was responsible for these arrangements, and that she was told it was an unsafe discharge plan. Nonetheless, Mr. Hamill was discharged on Sept. 11, 2018 and an Uber took him to his residence in Toms River.”
During the trip to Toms River, the suit said Mr. Hamill began vomiting in the Uber, became unresponsive and required an EMS transport to Barnabas Health Community Center where he was intubated, put on a ventilator and placed in the Intensive Care Unit – where he then suffered a stroke and heart attack.
After receiving treatment in the ICU, Mr. Hamill was transferred to a Skilled Nursing Facility, where he remained until he passed away just over a year later on Sept. 26, 2019. His widow, the plaintiff, then brought suit against the defendants, alleging claims of negligence, wrongful death and survival.
After amended versions of the lawsuit were filed (which included additional claims such as fraudulent transfer), defendants Gutman, Little Walker Holdings, LLC, Rohinsky and Shohola Realty LLC motioned to be dismissed from the case on Feb. 18, 2022.
Carlson also issued a report and recommendation on Aug. 5, 2022, which advised that this motion be granted, however, plaintiff counsel objected to such a move on Aug. 18, 2022, leading the defense to oppose the objections on Sept. 1, 2022.
18 months later, it led U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Judge Karoline Mehalchick to issue a memorandum opinion on March 14, whereby she adopted Carlson’s report and recommendation and granted the requested dismissal of defendants.
UPDATE
In a Sept. 6 memorandum opinion, Mehalchick adopted Carlson’s report and recommendation as the decision of the court – which 1) overruled the plaintiff’s objections to the report, 2) dismissed the Little Walker defendants from this action, and 3) granted the Singer, Twin Cedars and Blaire Realty’s motion for summary judgment in part as to the plaintiff’s fraudulent transfer claim, but also, 4) denied those same defendants’ motions for judgment on the pleadings and for summary judgment.
“As the report correctly concludes, the record indicates that plaintiff has failed to engage in meaningful discovery to support her fraudulent transfer claim, having deposed no member of the defense other than Singer and having been consistently recalcitrant regarding discovery deadlines, including submissions of expert medical opinions. Plaintiff’s response to Singer, Twin Cedars and Blaire Realty’s motion for summary judgment as to the fraudulent asset transfer claim, and their accompanying statement of undisputed facts fails to provide any citations to the record indicating a dispute related to the equivalent value exchanged in the asset transfer or evidence of actual fraud or intent to defraud,” Mehalchick stated.
“The report recommends denying the motion for summary judgment as it relates to plaintiff’s negligence claims. The report finds that plaintiff did not initially provide expert reports supporting her negligence claims in a timely manner, and that without these reports, plaintiff’s negligence claims are at odds with ‘Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1042.3, which requires the filing a valid certificate of merit along with any medical negligence claim[,]’ as well as case law requiring ‘expert opinions that the alleged act or omission of the defendant physician or hospital personnel fell below the appropriate standard of care in the community, and that the negligent conduct caused the injuries for which recovery is sought.’ However, plaintiff eventually did submit the requisite expert reports, albeit late, on Aug. 6, 18 and 24 of 2022. This Court previously declined to preclude the expert reports from evidence, reasoning that fatality cases are sensitive such that ‘the lawyer’s [discovery] error should [not] redound to the detriment of the client.’ As a result, the report recommends that plaintiff’s expert reports be properly considered as a part of the record in the summary judgment motion. Next, according to the report, plaintiff has pointed to sufficient evidence that Singer played an active role in Mr. Hamill’s eviction from Twin Cedars. Therefore, ‘it cannot be said that Singer’s role was confined to some form of passive negligence,’ warranting disposal of the suit at the summary judgment stage. Again, this Court agrees.”
Mehalchick continued that “the record contains evidence that Singer was actively engaged in Mr. Hamill’s eviction.”
“As Singer describes in her declaration, she helped arrange Mr. Hamill’s Uber from Twin Cedars to his New Jersey residence, during which he experienced a medical emergency from which he never recovered. Additionally, plaintiff’s expert reports support the conclusion that, when interpreted in favor of the non-moving party, Mr. Hamill’s suffering and death ‘were the direct result of the deviations in the standards of care on the part of Twin Cedars, its staff and administrators.’ This evidence considered, a reasonable juror could find in favor of plaintiff on the negligence claims,” Mehalchick concluded.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 3:20-cv-00231
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com