Uninsured Nursing Home Found Guilty of Elder Abuse Declares Bankruptcy Before Jury Returns With Damages

SAN GABRIEL, Calif., Sept. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An uninsured skilled nursing home operator was found liable yesterday of abusing an elderly resident. After the jury returned a verdict that would have led to a $1.5 million liability and an expected punitive damage verdict in the range of $20 million soon to follow, Erwin Cablayan, shareholder of San Marino Manor, Inc., cavalierly advised the trial court that San Marino Manor had filed bankruptcy.

San Marino Manor Inc. shareholder Erwin Cablayan and their legal team repeatedly attempted to stave off litigation by telling us he runs the nursing home without insurance," says Long Beach elder abuse attorney Stephen M. Garcia of Garcia, Artigliere & Shadrack.

"We have been tracking for about three to four months how they began transferring assets to a shell corporation, which put Erwin Cablayan's son Kevin Cablayan ostensibly in charge," Garcia said. "As if they had not already abused Mrs. Angelo enough, now they are going to try to defraud their way out of responsibility for abusing elders."

Garcia continues, "I've known since Day One that the Cablayans, as shareholders of Coordinated Care, would refuse to pay any verdict. They seemed to believe that this would cause us to dismiss the case and allow them to go on their merry way. They were wrong. The jury very clearly confirmed the abuse of our client Mrs. Angelo. And, quite candidly, we will not rest until justice is obtained for Mrs. Angelo and abusive corporations, such as San Marino Manor, with indifferent shareholders, such as the Cablayans, are put out of business."

Reyes C. Angelo vs. Coordinated Care Center, Inc. dba San Marino Manor and DOES 1 through 250, inclusive (Case No. 6C038713) was heard in Superior Court of the State of California, Northeast Division.

Angelo's death on March 16, 2006, was referred by an investigator to the Los Angeles County Coroner's office as a suspicious death. The coroner found her death to be caused by infection of accumulated pressure sores.

Angelo entered San Marino Manor Jan. 1, 2003 as ambulatory, well-nourished, and able to feed herself. On Oct. 19, 2005, she was brought to the hospital for a stroke and subsequently fell and fractured her shoulder. On Oct. 24, 2005, Angelo was readmitted to San Marino Manor.

Within the following months, Angelo developed more than 10 pressure sores on her toes, hips, lower buttocks, inner thighs, inner buttocks, and coccyx, with more than half of them Stage IV pressure sores. Many of the sores became black and necrotic, and later were found to be infected with MRSA.

The pressure sores were in places easily hidden from the family by bandages and clothing. Laboratory results indicating malnutrition and dehydration were also never revealed to the family.

It was not until Jan. 20, 2006, when Angelo's daughter found Angelo sitting in a wheelchair over a puddle of urine and in a urine-soaked diaper with fecal matter with her bandages saturated, that the family realized Angelo's medical condition.

At the family's insistence, Angelo was transferred on Jan. 21, 2006 to the hospital. A staff person rode with Angelo, bringing her medical records with her. Upon returning to San Marino Manor, Angelo's medical records were rewritten and adapted to cover the lack of care Angelo had received.

For example, the records that went to the hospital demonstrated that Angelo did not receive numerous doses of diabetic insulin she was prescribed. In the nursing home's copy of medical records, all of the doses were filled in.

The admitting doctor at the hospital noted Angelo's condition, including extensive pressure sores, many of which were infected and black and necrotic, and that they indicated that she had been left to lie on her side for long periods of time. He also noted that Angelo was suffering from diarrhea, vomiting, and malnutrition.

Coordinated Care Company, Inc., the parent company of San Marino Manor, is headquartered in San Diego, Calif. It is owned by Erwin Cablayan, who also owns the Bradley Gardens in San Jacinto in Riverside; Senior Day Centre of Hemet Valley and Cherry Valley Healthcare Management Center in San Marcos; Bradley Court Convalescent Center in El Cajon; and Tri Care Center, Inc., headquartered in San Diego. In Colorado, Erwin Cablayan also owns Aspen Siesta, also known as Coordinated Health Center.

"Right now all I want is another opportunity to stop abusive practices in skilled nursing facilities in which the Cablayans are shareholders," says Garcia.

For more information, contact Stephen Garcia at www.lawgarcia.com or at (800) 281-8515.

- Attorney Interview Available -

SOURCE Garcia, Artigliere & Shadrack