In our prior post, she shared the story of an elderly woman who lost her life because of the negligent care of nursing home employees. There was no convincing needed when the case was presented in front of a jury. They heard the facts of the case, and quickly returned a $200 million verdict in favor of the elderly woman's son.

The problems occurred after the jury verdict was returned. When the son went to collect on the verdict, he found a web of corporation confusion. Nursing home owners and operators have reacted to civil suits by complicating the corporate structure in an attempt to make it more difficult for victims to actually obtain the compensation that they were awarded.

Part of the problem is often that the company responsible for the negligence either no longer exists or is only a small part of a larger structure. Many nursing homes are split ownership into separate layers. One company may own the building, one may lease the building, another company may staff the building and yet another pay other associated costs.

It is not even the structure of the daily operations but the structure of each individual company itself. In some cases, the portion of the profits due the nursing home operator for instance may eventually flow to a parent corporation, a holding company or even private equity investors.

Choosing the right attorney for a nursing home neglect case has become even more important. An experienced attorney is able to sort through the corporate confusion to get victims the compensation they were awarded. And, hopefully, the nursing home owners and operators will be forced to spend less resources on corporate structure and more on fixing the problems that lead to the negligence.

Source: Tampa Bay Times, "Who should pay the $200 million for nursing home death? It's complicated," Stephen Nohlgren, Feb. 5, 2012