Amicus Brief Challenges Ruling on $500 Maximum for Penalties

California law allows a resident to sue for up to $500 when a nursing home has violated a resident’s rights.  It has been understood a damage award could be assessed for each time that a resident’s rights were violated, but the Court of Appeal’s recent ruling concluded that “$500 is the maximum that can be recovered …, regardless of how many rights are violated or whether such rights are violated repeatedly.” In the friend of the court brief, NSCLC cites statutory interpretation rules and legislative history to argue that the $500 maximum should apply to each violation and not to the entirety of a nursing home’s relationship with a resident.