California Ass'n of Health Facilities v. Department of Health Services

Health and Safety Code section 1424 1 provides that long-term health care facility licensees, including operators of nursing homes, may receive citations for violations of state and federal statutes and regulations, and that such citations may include the imposition of civil monetary penalties. Section 1424 also provides that the citation “shall be dismissed” if the licensee proves that despite the fact that the violation occurred, it “did what might reasonably be expected of a long-term health care facility licensee, acting under similar circumstances, to comply with the regulation.”

We are now called upon to construe the meaning of this part of the statute, which we will designate the “reasonable licensee defense.” Plaintiff, the California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF), an association representing the licensees of nursing homes and other long-term health care facilities, contends that the reasonable licensee defense was intended to relieve licensees of vicarious liability for their employees. The Department of Health Services (Department), the agency charged with enforcing patient care regulations in long-term health care facilities, contends to the contrary…