Covid-19
COVID-19 Outbreak Results In $58 Million Settlement For Veterans’ Homes
(CTN NEWS) – In response to the deaths of dozens of veterans who contracted COVID-19 at Massachusetts veteran homes, a federal judge has approved a nearly $58 million settlement.
“We reached the end of this case with heavy hearts,” Michael Aleo, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said Tuesday, the day after a judge approved the settlement in U.S. Springfield District Court.
In spring 2020, the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke experienced one of the deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks.
According to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, 84 residents died, and roughly the same number were sickened. There are 164 plaintiffs in total, including veterans who survived and their families.
According to Aleo, several veterans who survived COVID-19 have died of other causes since the lawsuit was filed.
“The families are grateful that we were able to conclude this case,” Aleo said. “It would have taken years to try the case.”
With three additional plaintiffs, he said the original settlement amount of $56 million was increased to about $58 million.
Under the settlement’s terms, families of veterans who died will receive a minimum of $400,000, and those who contracted the disease and survived will receive a minimum of $10,000.
The settlement should be disbursed within four to eight weeks, according to Aleo.
Four former leaders of the state-run home and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, which oversees the facility, were defendants in the case. As a result of the settlement, which is being paid by the state, all claims against the five have been dropped.
According to a former federal prosecutor hired by Gov. Charlie Baker, management at homemade several “utterly baffling” decisions that allowed the virus to spread almost unchecked.
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