At least eight lawsuits have been filed against Riverbend Post-Acute Rehabilitation, the Kansas City, Kansas, nursing home where 132 patients and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 and 36 have died.
Attorneys representing the nursing home transferred all eight cases to federal court in Kansas City, Kansas. They had originally been filed in Wyandotte County District Court.
Defendants are allowed to move civil actions from state to federal court if there’s a basis for federal jurisdiction. In all eight cases, Riverbend’s attorneys invoked the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, a law that authorizes the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to issue a declaration in response to a public health emergency.
Such a declaration provides immunity from liability to health care providers amid public health emergencies.
