LOS ANGELES ELDER ABUSE & NURSING HOME
NEGLECT LAWYERS

What we handle

• Nursing home and skilled nursing facility neglect
• Assisted living and residential care facility abuse
• Pressure ulcers and bedsores
• Falls from inadequate supervision or assistance
• Malnutrition and dehydration
• Medication errors and overmedication
• Untreated infections and sepsis
• Physical and sexual abuse by staff or other residents
• Wandering and elopement
• Unexplained injuries
• Financial exploitation
• Wrongful death arising from neglect

What the Elder Abuse Act adds

California's Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, at Welfare and Institutions Code section 15600 and following, exists because ordinary negligence law was proving inadequate to deter abuse of vulnerable adults.

It covers elders, defined as anyone 65 or older, and dependent adults, aged 18 to 64 with physical or mental limitations that restrict their ability to carry out normal activities or protect their rights.

The core provision is section 15657. Where a plaintiff proves by clear and convincing evidence that a defendant is liable for physical abuse or neglect, and acted with recklessness, oppression, fraud, or malice, the statute provides enhanced remedies — including recovery of attorney's fees and costs from the defendant.

That fee-shifting provision is the practical engine of elder abuse litigation. It makes cases economically viable that would otherwise be too expensive to bring relative to the recoverable damages, and it substantially changes a facility's calculation about defending.

Importantly, the standard is higher than ordinary negligence. Simple carelessness isn't enough. There has to be recklessness or worse — a conscious disregard of a known risk. Chronic understaffing that management knew about and didn't fix is the classic fact pattern.

Why this matters more in 2026

California law changed on January 1, 2026, and it changed in a way that makes the elder abuse framework significantly more important.

For four years, Code of Civil Procedure section 377.34 permitted a decedent's estate to recover the decedent's pre-death pain, suffering, and disfigurement in a survival action. That was a temporary amendment under SB 447, applying to actions filed between January 1, 2022 and January 1, 2026. An extension bill, SB 29, stalled and was ordered inactive in September 2025.

The amendment lapsed. For survival actions filed on or after January 1, 2026, California has reverted to its prior rule: a decedent's estate generally cannot recover pain, suffering, or disfigurement. Those claims are limited to economic damages.

The Elder Abuse Act's enhanced remedies under section 15657 operate on a separate footing. Where the statutory standard is met, they remain available. The practical consequence is that in cases involving an elder who died after a period of suffering, the elder abuse framework is now one of the few routes to recovering what that suffering was worth.

This is a genuinely recent change, and it means legal advice or online content written before 2026 on this subject may now be wrong.

The other layers

Statutory patient rights. California law provides residents of skilled nursing facilities with enumerated rights and a private right of action for their violation, separate from a negligence claim.

Regulatory complaints. The California Department of Public Health licenses and investigates skilled nursing facilities. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program investigates resident complaints. Filing a complaint is free, creates an official record, and can generate findings useful to a civil case. It doesn't replace a claim, but it's worth doing early.

Financial elder abuse. A distinct statutory claim covering the taking or retention of an elder's property for a wrongful use or by undue influence. It has its own remedies and reaches family members, caregivers, and professional advisors alike.

Arbitration agreements

Nursing home admission packets routinely include arbitration agreements, frequently signed during a crisis by a family member who wasn't given time to read them.

These are often challengeable. Common grounds include lack of authority — the person who signed had no legal power to bind the resident — as well as unconscionability, failure to provide required disclosures, and the fact that arbitration cannot be a condition of admission. Whether a wrongful death claim by heirs who never signed anything is bound at all is a separate and frequently contested question.

If a facility has produced an arbitration agreement, don't assume the case is over.

Warning signs

• Bedsores, particularly on the tailbone, heels, or hips
• Unexplained bruising, fractures, or burns
• Rapid weight loss or signs of dehydration
• Poor hygiene or soiled clothing and bedding
• Sudden withdrawal, fear, or agitation, particularly around specific staff
• Overmedication or unusual sedation
• Repeated infections, especially urinary tract infections
• Missing money or possessions, or unexplained changes to financial documents
• Staff reluctance to leave you alone with your family member

Deadlines

Two years for most elder abuse claims. Claims sounding in professional medical negligence may run on the shorter medical malpractice clock. If the facility is publicly operated, a six-month government claim deadline applies. These distinctions are genuinely tricky and worth an early conversation.