Millions Of Dollars Recovered For Our Clients.
Dedicated & Tenacious Litigation Lawyers in Indianapolis
Moving a parent or a spouse into a nursing home is one of the hardest decisions a family makes, and it rests on a promise that the facility will take care of them. When that promise is broken, families are usually the ones who notice first, in a bruise nobody can explain, weight that keeps dropping, or a parent who has stopped talking. Nursing home neglect claims cover the harm that results when a facility fails to provide the care a resident needs, whether that failure came from understaffing, poor training, ignored care plans, or staff who did something they never should have done.
Indiana licenses and inspects long-term care facilities through the Indiana Department of Health, and any facility that accepts Medicare or Medicaid is also bound by the federal Nursing Home Reform Act, which guarantees residents the right to be free from abuse and neglect, to be treated with dignity, to refuse restraints, to participate in their own care plan, and to raise concerns without retaliation. Those standards matter in a legal claim, because a violation of them helps establish what the facility was required to do and where it fell short. Indiana generally allows two years from the date of the injury to file, and a facility that is government owned can carry a much shorter notice deadline, sometimes as little as 180 days.
Nursing home cases in Indiana carry a wrinkle that most injury claims do not. Depending on how the harm happened, a claim may fall under Indiana’s Medical Malpractice Act rather than ordinary negligence law, which changes the process and the exposure considerably. Claims under the Act generally require filing a proposed complaint with the Indiana Department of Insurance and going through a medical review panel before a lawsuit can proceed, and total recovery is capped at 1.8 million dollars for acts occurring after June 30, 2019. Whether the Act applies usually turns on whether the harm came from the provision of medical care or from something closer to a basic failure of supervision and safety, which is why an early, accurate read on how a claim will be classified shapes everything that follows. Admission paperwork is worth a close look too, since many facilities include arbitration clauses that can move a dispute out of court entirely.
At RileyCate, we investigate nursing home cases with the understanding that most of the proof lives inside the facility. We request care plans, staffing records, medication administration logs, incident reports, and state survey and inspection history, and we move quickly, because records can be revised and staff turn over fast. We handle claims involving bedsores and pressure ulcers, malnutrition and dehydration, falls and unsafe transfers, medication errors, untreated infections, wandering and elopement, physical and sexual abuse, and wrongful death, and we represent families whether their goal is compensation, accountability, or simply making sure it does not happen to the next resident.
Nursing home cases are defended by insurers and corporate ownership groups that handle these claims routinely and know exactly how long a family is likely to keep fighting. Will Riley and Russell Cate lead our nursing home neglect team. Russell Cate is recognized as a Super Lawyer, and his and Will Riley’s appellate work before the Indiana Court of Appeals and the Indiana Supreme Court gives our clients real depth in this kind of litigation, which matters here because the question of whether the Medical Malpractice Act applies to a given claim is exactly the kind of issue that ends up before an appellate court. Will Riley’s Super Lawyers, Top 100 Trial Lawyers, and AV Preeminent recognition reflects that same trial-tested approach.
Will and Russell personally oversee every matter we take, staffing it with the attorneys, associates, and staff the case calls for based on its size and complexity. These cases often unfold while a family is still managing a parent’s daily care, or grieving, so we work to keep the legal side from adding to that. You will always be able to reach someone who knows your family’s situation, and we will tell you honestly what the evidence supports rather than what you want to hear.
Nobody plans to need a lawyer. When something goes wrong, what you need first is someone who will listen, tell you honestly where you stand, and take the next steps off your plate. That is how every case at RileyCate, LLC begins.
We represent individuals, families, and small businesses across Fishers, Indianapolis, and surrounding counties in personal injury and complex litigation, business and real estate disputes, criminal defense, and appeals.
Will Riley and Russell Cate personally oversee every matter, staffing each case to its size and complexity. Both are recognized as Super Lawyers and have argued before the Indiana Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. Will also holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and a Top 100 Trial Lawyer designation.
We are trial-tested, not just settlement-focused. We have tried hundreds of cases, because insurance companies, opposing businesses, and prosecutors negotiate differently with a firm willing to go the distance.
If you believe a loved one has been neglected or abused in a nursing home, the sooner we can start gathering records, the more the evidence will show. We offer a consultation to review what you have noticed, explain how Indiana law treats these claims, and lay out your options with no pressure and no obligation. Reach out to RileyCate today to speak with a nursing home neglect attorney about your family’s situation.
