Multi-million dollar judgments have hit the long-scrutinized California nursing home chain owned by Shlomo Rechnitz, stemming from multiple lawsuits alleging patient harm, severe neglect and rights violations. Rechnitz’ companies deny all allegations, despite the judgments and more trials forthcoming.

Recent jury awards include $2.34 million to 84-year-old Betsy Jenta, whose rights were found to be violated 132 times, and $7.6 million to the family of 71-year-old James Doherty. Doherty died after missing chemotherapy sessions and developed a fatal pressure sore, according to an article published in CalMatters.

Upcoming trials involve COVID-19 deaths in a Shasta County nursing homes and allegations of rape and overmedication in an Alameda County facility.

Rechnitz and his wife, Tamar, hold ownership stakes in roughly 78 nursing homes in the state, CalMatters found, and these facilities fare significantly worse than statewide averages on citations, fines, and federal quality ratings.

In the last three years, the 78 properties received double the citations compared to the state average, with 12.4. Two-thirds of the facilities received one federal fine in this same time period, compared to half of all facilities in the state, CalMatters reported. The facilities were fined an average of $47,897 compared to an average of $29,573 in other California nursing homes.

Almost 59% of the 78 facilities had one- or two-star ratings, compared to just over 37% of all facilities statewide that had these ratings as part of the Five-Star Rating System.

It was discovered in one of the many lawsuits that the couple’s net worth is $786 million, prompting concerns that money intended for patient care was being diverted.

Mark Johnson, attorney representing Rechnitz’ facilities and one of his main companies, Brius LLC, sought to distance his clients from the cases. Rechnitz and his wife are passive owners of the facilities and have no role in operations or management, Johnson argued.

Elder care advocates say the cases bring to light systemic regulatory failures by the state and Department of health. Specifically, the state allowed Rechnitz to operate 18 facilities while license applications were pending – operations continued when licenses were ultimately denied in five cases, according to a 2021 CalMatters investigation.

Rechnitz has faced state scrutiny for years, with then-Attorney General Kamala Harris attempting to stop him from acquiring more facilities.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law legislation to close a loophole that allows nursing home operators to run a facility without receiving a license, and require the Department of Public Health to look into an applicant’s track record over several years before granting a license. However, many licenses tied to Rechnitz were approved just before the law took effect.

Several of these same nursing homes now face patient injury lawsuits, including Country Villa Wilshire with the $2.3 million judgment awarded to Jenta, mentioned earlier.

Attorneys in the space are divided, with facility counsel saying the sector is often the target of abusive lawsuits, while plaintiff attorneys argue residents face recurring preventable injuries.