Nation's largest senior living operator agrees to renovate, change policies as part of settlement

By Candice Nguyen, Michael Bott and Michael Horn

Putting an end to eight years of litigation, the nation's largest senior living operator is agreeing to upgrade some of its facilities – by making them safer and more accessible for seniors – as part of a class action settlement in federal court last month. 

More than 80 families came forward as part of a lawsuit against Brookdale Senior Living, accusing the company of elder financial abuse, violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and operating “a system of understaffed assisted living facilities that fails to consistently provide even the most basic level of promised care.”

Plaintiff Bernadette Jestrabek-Hart, who lives at Brookdale Scotts Valley, applauded the settlement, and described access issues endured by seniors with mobility issues.

“I have an electric scooter and they wouldn’t take my scooter on the bus,” Jestrabek-Hart said. “They kept telling me the ramp wasn’t strong enough.”

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Brookdale must renovate three of its California facilities, including Brookdale San Ramon and Brookdale Scotts Valley in the Bay Area and Brookdale Brookhurst in Southern California, by bringing common areas and certain types of resident units into ADA compliance. Brookdale also agreed to make staffing levels more transparent and ensure its evacuation plans accounted for wheelchair-bound seniors at the San Ramon and Scotts Valley locations. 

Gay Grunfeld, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the Brookdale suit, called the settlement historic.

“To my knowledge, [it’s] the first time that an assisted living facility in the United States has been required, albeit under a settlement, to make remediations, renovations to a facility to come into compliance with the national mandate with the [Americans with Disabilities Act],” Grunfeld said.

While Grunfeld said she was “pleased with the outcome,” she lamented the deaths of four plaintiffs during the litigation. 

“They were very important to us,” Grunfeld said.

The class action lawsuit isn’t the only instance where Brookdale has been accused of subpar care.

In 2021, Brookdale’s Napa facility was cited by the state for persistent staffing shortages and for failing to properly investigate after a resident fell 10 separate times and ended up in the hospital. That same year, state inspectors cited Brookdale’s assisted living facility in San Jose, stating staff took 44 minutes to call 911 after a resident showed stroke symptoms.

Brookdale says it has made corrections to address both violations. 

In 2022, California’s attorney general announced a $3.25 million settlement with Brookdale after alleging the company misrepresented the quality of care at 10 skilled nursing facilities in the state. Brookdale did not admit fault and said it settled the case due to rising legal fees.

Grunfeld said she hopes the entire senior living industry takes notice of Brookdale’s latest settlement. 

“This settlement sends a message to all assisted living providers here in California and nationally that the best practice and the national requirement is to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act,” she said.

Brookdale sent a statement responding to the settlement, saying:

“We are pleased to have reached a settlement that is favorable to Brookdale and includes no finding of wrongdoing. While we continue to dispute the allegations, we can now move forward and stay focused on delivering high quality of care and services to our residents.”

Jestrabek-Hart said she’s already noticing a difference in how Brookdale Scotts Valley is addressing complaints from residents but hopes other senior living operators follow suit.

“I have friends now in other facilities that are having some of the same concerns,” she said. “So, if [those facilities] see that they really need to follow the ADA, maybe they'll start doing it.”

Brookdale has five years to complete the court-ordered renovations. 

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Nation's largest senior living operator agrees to renovate, change policies as part of settlement