FKB’s Jennie M. Lundman and Anthony V. Franzolin obtained a decision granting summary judgment and dismissing a case as to FKB’s client, a well-established nursing home that has been in operation for many years. In this case plaintiff alleged that the nursing home failed to properly assess a resident as a fall risk and implement proper fall precautions for said resident, who fell at the facility. Plaintiff claimed the resident’s fall caused her to lapse into a vegetative state until the time of her death, over two years later.

FKB presented documentary evidence in conjunction with the opinions of an expert geriatrician to demonstrate that the resident’s risk for falls was properly assessed at the time of her admission to the facility and that the facility subsequently implemented proper precautions to prevent falls. Based on these arguments, the Court (Justice Martha L. Luft) agreed that FKB’s client took all reasonable steps necessary to prevent this particular resident from sustaining a fall and that the fall was not due to any departure from the applicable standard of care on the part of FKB’s client. The Court also agreed with FKB’s arguments that diagnostic imaging studies taken subsequent to the resident’s fall conclusively proved that there was no causal connection between the resident’s fall and her subsequent vegetative state or death, over two years later.

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