Many victims of nursing home abuse or neglect and their families have questions about their legal rights and how to file a nursing home abuse lawsuit. Below is a step-by-step overview of a nursing home abuse lawsuit.
Step One: Getting the Facts
Motley Rice lawyers work closely with you to gather the facts about your case. We will need certain information regarding your loved one, including medical history.
To gather this information, we use several sources that include:
- You, family members, friends
- Past co-workers or volunteers with whom your loved one has spent time
- Medical records from hospitals and doctors
- Various research sources
Step Two: Starting the Case
To begin a nursing home abuse and neglect case, the case is filed in court and served to the nursing home and any other defendants. When a nursing home abuse lawsuit is filed depends on your goals, the statute of limitations and the availability of key facts and reliable sources.
Motley Rice’s network of co-counsel enables us to file a nursing home abuse lawsuit anywhere in the United States.
Step Three: Conducting Discovery
When Motley Rice files a nursing home abuse lawsuit on your behalf, we conduct aggressive pre-trial preparations by gathering additional information to strengthen your case through a process known as discovery. We may:
- Conduct depositions (in which witnesses are questioned under oath) and issue subpoenas for additional key documents from the defendants
- Access our comprehensive, computerized database of medical literature and consult with medical experts
- Develop evidence of the physical and emotional impact that the nursing home abuse and neglect has had on you, your family members and your loved one
- Search, locate and interview facility staff and other witnesses about the facts of the nursing home abuse and neglect
- Take any other steps needed to build the strongest possible case on your behalf
Step Four: Case Resolution
Your case may be resolved in one of several ways, including trial, mediation, settlement arbitration or an administrative settlement.
Trial
As your case moves through the court, it receives our individual attention. It may be combined or consolidated with other cases, but rest assured that we fight for you every bit as fiercely in a consolidated case as in an individual case. Our clients can count on the fact that we work hard to thoroughly prepare our nursing home abuse lawsuits for trial.
Administrative Settlements
Possible structured agreements may be negotiated by us as your nursing home abuse lawyers. Deciding when to accept or reject a settlement offer is rarely an easy decision. Our lawyers will advise you of the pros and cons of trying your case versus settling it before trial. We will do our best to help you decide whether a settlement offer is a fair one, but the decision is ultimately yours.