NEW ORLEANS — The legal scramble for quick settlements in the lawsuits against embattled nursing home owner Bob Dean is in full force, with some plaintiffs dying while waiting on the complex litigation and indications that Dean’s wealth may not stretch far enough to cover all of the claims against him.
Dean has been hit with at least 10 lawsuits claiming damages suffered by patients during the evacuation of 843 patients from his seven Southeast Louisiana nursing homes into a leaky and poorly outfitted warehouse in Tangipahoa Parish. At least four patients died before state officials declared an emergency and stepped in to remove them.
Since then, Dean has also been hit with 15 felony criminal charges – including eight counts of cruelty to the infirm – and his nursing home licenses have been revoked.
Recently, legal filings in one of the 10 lawsuits against Dean reveal that settlement talks in some cases have led to “an amicable resolution” in at least some of the cases, according to a letter written by H. Minor Pipes III, on of Dean’s attorneys.
“All plaintiffs and all defendants have been able to reach an amicable resolution of this litigation,” Pipes wrote in support of lifting a stay order that has temporarily halted the proceedings.
The letter was filed along with a motion to lift a stay on one suit filed by Couhig Partners law firm in their pending claim in Jefferson Parish on behalf of several plaintiffs.
The stay was denied by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeal, but Couhig’s motion revealed that Dean has racked up more than $96 million in debt and he may not be able to pay settlements beyond the estimated $15 million covered by his insurance policies.
“This class is comprised of elderly and infirm individuals, a large number of whom are unlikely to survive beyond six months,” the Couhig firm wrote in its motion. “Indeed, in the time since this lawsuit has been filed, 13 direct clients of Counsel for Plaintiffs have tragically passed away.”
The case was originally put on hold after Dean’s attorneys tried to have the lawsuits removed from the court of Jefferson Parish Judge Donald “Chick” Foret. Now it appears that Dean’s attorneys and insurance companies have joined with the Couhig firm to hash out a settlement.
“The insurers for the defendants have agreed to pay the proposed class of defendants the maximum amount of the insurance proceeds,” the motion states.
One possible monkey wrench in that settlement proposal is that all of the lawsuits have not yet been consolidated into a class action, something that would put all plaintiffs under one legal umbrella. Separate lawsuits by the Morris Bart law firm and New Orleans attorney Madro Banderies cover more than 100 of the patients.
Banderies said a class action wouldn’t differentiate between patients who died or suffered grave medical problems from those who fared better during the chaotic evacuation.
“Everybody was not damaged the same way,” Banderies said. “How many of them died? How many lost a leg like my client?”
Furthermore, some plaintiffs’ attorneys aren’t convinced that Dean is as insolvent as thee estimates calculated by the Couhig firm.
“The guy has an airplane, he has a ranch in Oregon, he has homes all over the country, he put up all kinds of luxury cars for auction,” Banderies said. “At some point, the value of all those assets have to be produced and accounted for.”