THEY CALLED BUT NO-ONE CAME: LIABILITY INSURANCE COVERAGE QUESTIONS.

Eight people died in a nursing home in Hollywood, Florida during Hurricane Irma.  The nursing home's air conditioning went out.  It got hot.  Very hot.

Eight people died from the heat.

A number of people and corporations played a role in this story:  The Florida governor, the Florida power company, and the Florida nursing home.  Their continuing stories will be featured here throughout the coming week, along with their related liability insurance coverage questions.

The stories of the governor, the power company, and the nursing home will not be complete without the starting point of each story:  Eight people died.  What follows is from the reporting so far on what happened.

Moreover, the focus of this article is not on whether there may be good claims of potential liability, but on whether there are claims to potential liability insurance coverage.

1. The Governor: Questions of Liability.

Eight people died in a nursing home in Florida when the air conditioning went out.  The governor gave out his cell phone number to the nursing home operators, among others, to call if they had problems during the Hurricane so that he could help solve them.  The governor's office does not contest that.

They telephoned.  The nursing home called the governor's cell phone three times in fact.  They said that they had called the power company and the power company had not come.  They told the governor's office that they needed the governor's "immediate assistance" to get the power company to help get the air conditioning online again.

No help came.

Not even a return telephone call, they said.

See among the other sources listed in this article:  Aaron Davis, Katie Zezima & Mark Berman, "Officials at Nursing Home Where 8 Died Say They Called Florida Gov. Rick Scott 3 Times For Help" (Washington Post via Chicago Tribune posted on Friday, September 15, 2017), also available at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-florida-nursing-home-deaths-rick-scott-20170915-story.html.

A spokesperson for the Florida governor said that all calls were returned.

The nursing home says that it called the governor's cell phone three times and no-one came.  See in addition, for example, Chris Perez, "Florida Nursing Home:  Gov. Scott Ignored Our Distress Calls" (New York Post online, posted on Friday, September 15, 2017), also at http://nypost.com/2017/09/15/florida-nursing-home-gov-scott-ignored-our-distress-calls/.

The governor's spokesperson also said that it was not his responsibility; all the calls to his cell number were relayed to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration or AHCA.

AHCA is the Florida governor.  He appoints them.  They report to him.  They are a part of the government he heads in Florida.

The governor's spokesperson also said that the nursing home should have called 911 if they had a problem.  It was "100% their responsibility" to care for the health of the people in their charge, the governor's office said.  "Report: Before deaths, nursing home called Rick Scott's emergency number three times, to no avail" (Tampa Bay Times staff, posted online on Friday, September 15, 2017), also accessible at http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/report-nursing-home-called-rick-scotts-emergency-number-three-times-to-no/2337665.  After the hurricane, the Florida governor ordered AHCA to issue emergency rules requiring nursing homes, among others, to have working generators. "'Red Flag' Calls Signaled Post-Irma Deaths at Nursing Home" (copyrighted Associated Press Report, published in the New York Times online on Saturday, September 16, 2017), also at https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/09/16/us/ap-us-hurricane-irma-nursing-home-deaths-.html.  

Future installments in this series will, as noted, address liability insurance coverage questions raised by the prospective liability of other participants in the story including the Florida power company and the Florida nursing home.

But this story is about the prospective liability insurance coverage questions surrounding potential coverage, if any, for the Florida governor for the deaths of 8 people from heat in a nursing home during Hurricane Irma.  Whether the nursing home should have called 911, they say that they did call you.  

And no-one came.  You allegedly said to call that special cell number if they needed help. They called.  They did not get help.

 

 

2. Liability Insurance Coverage Questions and the Florida Governor.

The Florida governor may be immune under State law even if he did something wrong in his official capacity.  Assuming that immunity applied here, and as yet there have only been accusations and no allegations or lawsuits, could the liability carrier with coverage in this situation claim the benefit of that immunity to deny all coverage whether the governor claimed immunity or not in the future?

The appropriate method of obtaining compensation from the State is by a claims bill.  If the governor's actions or omissions amount to prospective liability for the State, and if a claims bill is introduced and approved accordingly, would the liability carrier involved in this matter have coverage for the claims bill?  Do you know?

I do not know but I think it is worth finding the answers to these and similar questions.

And the answers, perhaps, to other questions:  Could the plaintiffs (whoever might sue) bring in evidence of the governor's experience with Medicare fraud?  Nursing home residents are almost always Medicare recipients; were the 8 victims?

Finally, did Mr. Scott ever do business with this particular nursing home or its previous corporate iterations in his previous life, so to speak, as the executive of a healthcare corporation?

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