Ventura, CA – A lawsuit against Brookdale Senior Living filed in Ventura County Superior Court today alleges residents of Brookdale’s ten California nursing homes are being routinely illegally evicted.  The lawsuit states that Francis Fleming and Paula Lange were pushed out of Brookdale Camarillo when their lucrative Medicare-covered rehabilitation ended.  
 
Brookdale, a publicly traded company, is known as the largest operator of senior living communities in the country.  But according to the lawsuit, Brookdale systemically evicts residents by shortcutting legal requirements meant to ensure safe and appropriate discharges.
 
“This lawsuit is no surprise to us,” said CANHR Staff Attorney Anthony Chicotel.  “We have received calls from multiple Brookdale nursing home residents or their families, complaining they are being evicted inappropriately.  We have a nursing home eviction crisis because there is no meaningful enforcement of the laws to protect residents.”
 
Inappropriate evictions are the most common complaint lodged against nursing homes nationwide, prompting new federal scrutiny on nursing home discharges nationwide.  Meanwhile, residents continue to be thrown out of their homes to boost facility profit margins and in disregard of residents’ health conditions and care needs. 
 
“When it comes to evictions,” said Chicotel, “lawsuits are the only means residents have to protect themselves.”
 
The lawsuit was filed by Johnson Moore of Thousand Oaks and BraunHagey & Borden LLP of San Francisco.