Skilled Healthcare's lawsuit proceedings stayed to allow mediation

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, July 15 - Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. has agreed to a stay of a lawsuit related to 22 California nursing facilities receiving administrative services from the company to allow for mediation, according to a company news release.

Specifically, Skilled Healthcare said that the plaintiffs have agreed not to ask the court to convert a jury verdict to a judgment or try to obtain an interest in or control over the company's property through Aug. 9.

During the stay period, Skilled Healthcare and other defendants have also agreed not to transfer their assets outside of bankruptcy, except in the ordinary course of business or to file for bankruptcy.

The stay is subject to approval by the Humboldt County Superior Court of California.

As previously reported, Skilled Healthcare was ordered by a Humboldt County, Calif., jury to pay $613 million in statutory damages and $58 million in restitutionary damages in connection with a nursing home statute violation complaint filed more than four years ago.

The maximum amount of damages allowed by Health and Safety Code 1430(b) were awarded earlier this month in the first phase of jury deliberations. The California statute mandates that nursing homes maintain 3.2 nursing hours per patient per day.

The total damages were assessed at a rate of $500 per-patient per-day that the 22 nursing facilities involved in the suit were in violation of the law.

Skilled Healthcare is a Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based health care services company.

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