On July 18, 2019, The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with CANHR and three nursing home residents who sued California for ignoring its own administrative orders. The residents were all dumped by their nursing homes into hospitals and illegally refused readmission. Each of the residents successfully appealed the eviction and received a State order for readmission.  None of the residents were actually readmitted though as the offending nursing homes ignored the order and the State did nothing to enforce it.

The Ninth Circuit found that California cannot provide “meaningless show trials that allow nursing homes to persist in improper” evictions. The Federal Nursing Home Reform Act requires states to provide a fair system for eviction appeals that necessarily includes resolution for residents.

For California’s nursing home residents, the decision means California will finally be held accountable for its inexplicable abandonment of dumped nursing home residents who won their appeal but are not readmitted. The decision is also a big win for nursing home residents throughout the country, who now have a clear right to sue their state regarding the fairness of its eviction appeal system.

This decision gives residents a powerful tool to fight back against the avalanche of illegal nursing home evictions in the U.S. States must provide an appeal process with teeth or face lawsuits from abandoned residents.

CLICK HERE to read the full opinion by The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.