2013 DRI Nursing Home/ALF Seminar

I am writing this entry from the Westin Kierland Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Jim Bleeke, Jeb Crandall and I are attending the 2013 DRI Nursing Home/ALF seminar. This seminar has played a substantial role in shaping the course of my career. I first became involved in long-term care defense in 2004, when I joined a firm that defended hundreds of nursing home cases in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee. That same year, I first attended the annual DRI nursing home seminar in Boston. I committed then to attending the seminar every year, and to getting involved in committee work and seminar planning.

This year I am attending my tenth seminar, and am proud to have served as a speaker at the seminar in 2007 and 2010; to have invited speakers from the long-term care industry to speak in 2008, 2011, 2012 and this year; and to have served as Program Chair for the seminar in 2011 and 2012.

This seminar is also where I first met my current law partners. I met Jim and Jeb in Chicago in 2006. We developed personal and professional friendships that led to me relocating from Alabama to join the firm in Indianapolis in 2011.

Involvement in DRI and participation in this seminar have led to longstanding professional relationships with colleagues across the country. It also provides us with opportunities to meet with clients to discuss their needs and emerging concerns in defending long-term care cases. And to have fun.

Nate Leach Obtains Favorable Opinion from Medical Review Panel

Nate Leach recently obtained a favorable opinion of "No Malpractice" from a medical review panel on behalf of a nursing home. The Claimant alleged that the nursing home violated the standard of care in allegedly failing to appropriately assess the resident's fall risk and implement appropriate fall prevention measures. Contrary to the Claimant's allegations, the medical review panel determined that the nursing home facility appropriately assessed the resident's fall risk and implemented appropriate fall prevention measures, which included appropriate therapy to increase the resident's strength, monitoring the resident, providing a call-light and safety instructions, and providing other care measures which were aimed at addressing the etiology of any fall.

4th Annual White Party

Julia Moffitt, Tatum and Laura Steele

Stephanie Franco Holtzlander and Bleeke Dillon Crandall Attorneys sponsor the 4th Annual White Party!

The Fourth Annual White Party to benefit Tatum's Bags of Fun will be held on Friday, September 6, 2013 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse from 7 p.m. until 11:30 p.m.

Guests wear all white attire to signify purity (from cancer), hope and life. The First Annual White Party was held in Tatum's backyard to celebrate the completion of her first fight with cancer. Since then, the White Party has been an annual fundraiser to benefit her charity. Annually, approximately 300 Hoosier children are diagnosed with a form of cancer. Tatum's Bags of Fun brings smiles and hope to each and every one of them by delivering a Bag of Fun! Thanks to the support of our generous community, over 1,500 children have received Tatum's Bags of Fun!

For more information, to purchase a ticket or to make a donation , please visit www.tatums.bagsoffun.org.

Estate of Santelli v. Super 8 Motel

On August 28, 2013, the Indiana Supreme Court finally handed down its decision in the Estate of Santelli v. Super 8 Motel case which had caused quite a lot of interest and fear in the defense bar because the Indiana Court of Appeals had essentially abrogated part of the Indiana Comparative Fault Act and held that it did not apply to allocation of fault to a non-party criminal tortfeasor. While the Indiana Supreme Court's discussion on the issue was shockingly short, they held that the Indiana Comparative Fault Act should remain as it is and that the legislature clearly wanted to entitle defendants to ask the jury to apportion fault to any actor who contributed to the plaintiff's alleged injury, whether a party to the case or not and whether a criminal tortfeasor or not. Not only can the jury apportion fault to a criminal non-party defendant, but the defendants are not responsible for that portion of fault and remain only responsible for paying their percentage of fault of the jury verdict. It was a huge victory for the defense bar as the opposite result would have been nothing short of ludicrous. Email Carol Dillon for a full copy of this case.