California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog
California’s Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act is a civil law that gives older adults and dependent adults — and their families — the ability to hold individuals and care facilities legally accountable for abuse and neglect. It covers physical abuse, neglect, financial abuse, and more, and it provides remedies that go beyond ordinary injury claims.
Who does this law protect?
The law protects two groups of people. The first is adults age 65 and older. The second is dependent adults — people between 18 and 64 who have physical and/or mental limitations that restrict their ability to carry out normal activities or protect their own rights. A person living in a Skilled Nursing Facility or an Assisted Living Facility is very likely to fall into one or both categories.
This matters because it means someone in their fifties with a serious disability who is harmed in a care facility may have the same civil remedies available as an 80-year-old. The law is broader than many families realize.
What kinds of harm does the law cover?
The law covers several distinct categories of wrongdoing. Physical abuse — hitting, restraining, or injuring someone — is covered. So is neglect, which is the failure to provide care that a person needs: assistance with eating, turning and repositioning to prevent bedsores, hygiene, medication management, and supervision. Financial abuse — taking, hiding, or misusing someone’s money or property — is also covered. So is abandonment, isolation, and abduction.
Neglect deserves particular attention here, because it is the most common form of harm in care facilities and the hardest to see. It does not necessarily look like a single event. Rather, it tends to show up day after day, as care that should have been given but was not. As a result, the person who should have received care quietly declines.
What makes this law different from an ordinary personal injury claim?
In a standard negligence case, only economic losses and pain and suffering are recoverable, and attorney’s fees are not. This law changes that. When abuse or neglect meets a specific legal threshold — conduct that goes beyond ordinary carelessness and rises to something more serious — the law allows for additional remedies: enhanced damages and the recovery of attorney’s fees and costs. That distinction is significant for families, as it allow for greater recovery. It also means that facilities face even graver financial consequences than just the baseline cost of a negligence claim.
What threshold does the conduct have to meet?
To access the law’s enhanced remedies, the conduct has to meet a standard that goes beyond a single mistake or a lapse in judgment. The law is focused on reckless, oppressive, fraudulent, or malicious conduct — or on neglect that represents a pattern of failing to provide care. A facility that ignores a known risk, cuts staffing to the point where basic care cannot be delivered, or covers up injuries to avoid accountability is exhibiting the kind of conduct this law was designed to reach.
What that means in any specific situation depends on the facts. An attorney can evaluate whether what happened to your loved one meets that threshold.
Can a family pursue a claim if their loved one has died?
Yes. California law allows certain family members to bring a claim on behalf of a loved one who has passed away as a result of abuse or neglect. There are specific rules about who may bring that claim and under what circumstances. Those details are worth discussing directly with an attorney, because the rules are fact-specific and the answer depends on your family’s situation.
What should a family do if they suspect abuse or neglect right now?
Start documenting everything right away. Write down what you observed — dates, times, what you saw, what was said. Take photographs of any visible injuries, skin conditions, or unsanitary living conditions. If your loved one has a roommate, that person or their family may have seen things that can help.
You can ask the facility in writing to document any injury in your loved one’s chart, and you can request copies of medical records. Pay attention to whether what staff tells you matches what is written down. Inconsistencies between verbal accounts and written incident reports can be meaningful.
You can also contact California’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman, which advocates for residents of care facilities, or file a complaint with the state licensing agency. Skilled Nursing Facilities are licensed by the California Department of Public Health. Assisted Living Facilities are licensed by the California Department of Social Services. These agencies investigate all complaints they receive about a facility.
None of this requires you to have all the answers right now. The most involved, attentive families can be taken off guard by conditions that develop out of sight, such as bedsores that form within days in a bed-bound person, infections that progress before anyone outside the facility notices them, or behavioral changes in a person with dementia who cannot describe what is hurting them. What you are noticing now is worth taking seriously.
Does filing a complaint with the state and filing a civil claim conflict with each other?
No. A complaint to a licensing agency is a separate process from a civil claim under the elder abuse law. The state investigates whether a facility violated its licensing requirements. A civil claim is brought by a family to pursue accountability and remedies through the courts. The two can run alongside each other, and a substantiated claim with the state can be helpful in litigating a civil claim. An attorney can help you understand how each path works and what each one can accomplish.
About the author. Ben Yeroushalmi is an Elder Abuse Attorney, Yeroushalmi Law, representing families in
nursing home abuse and neglect matters throughout California.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
