Bottaro Law Clears Legal Hurdle for Nursing Home Victims
In Baker, et al. v. Pawtucket Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation, LLC, et. al., attorney Laura Bottaro represented a family who wished to file a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of a woman who died while in the care of a nursing home facility.
When the patient was admitted, she signed a number of documents, including an arbitration clause that barred her and her family from filing a lawsuit against the facility in civil court. A staff member without legal training failed to explain the significance of the document to the patient, who was heavily medicated while recovering from a hip replacement operation and showed signs of cognitive impairment.
Laura Bottaro argued that while the arbitration clause itself was not flawed, the process the nursing home used to present the document to the patient was unfair. The judge ruled in favor of the patient’s family in a decision that opens the door for Rhode Island nursing home patients and their families to challenge arbitration agreements after an injury or wrongful death.
After this landmark decision, Laura was interviewed in Lawyers Weekly, and a writeup on the case was featured in Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly.