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Federal Court Dismisses Class-Action Lawsuit Against Cuomo Over Nursing Home Deaths During COVID-19
A federal judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit accusing former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his administration of responsibility for the deaths of loved ones in nursing homes during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Polk Failla stated that although the situation is deeply tragic, the legal arguments presented by the families did not meet the criteria required for a federal court lawsuit.
Cuomo, who was governor at the time, issued a directive in March 2020 that barred nursing homes from refusing to accept patients who had tested positive for COVID-19. This directive aimed to alleviate the pressure on hospitals overwhelmed with patients.
The Directive and Its Impact
As a result of this directive, over 9,000 recovering coronavirus patients were transferred from hospitals to nursing homes. This policy was later rescinded following concerns that it contributed to increased outbreaks in those facilities.
The eight plaintiffs in the lawsuit contended that their loved ones contracted COVID-19 in nursing homes and ultimately died as a result of the policy. They claimed that Cuomo and his administration were civilly liable for the deaths, alleging that the state failed to accurately report the number of nursing home fatalities that resulted from the virus.
Judge Failla’s Ruling
In her ruling, Judge Failla, an appointee of President Obama, determined that the government could not be held directly accountable for the deaths, even if its policies had devastating consequences on vulnerable populations.
Failla remarked that the Court’s compassion for the plaintiffs and their families cannot circumvent the established laws governing such cases.
She noted that the plaintiffs’ claims did not satisfy the stringent standard of
