Nursing Home to Take Back Evicted Resident

A 75-year-old man has reached an out-of-court settlement with the Inglewood nursing home that evicted him last December and will return to it today, his attorney said Tuesday.

Marion White is scheduled to return to the Angeles Convalescent Center East this afternoon, two months after a suit was filed on his behalf alleging that he had been wrongfully evicted, his attorney, Robert Ross, said in a statement.

Neither Ross nor officials of the nursing home could be reached for comment on details of the settlement.

The novel suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleged that the nursing home violated White’s rights as a tenant and a patient by giving him insufficient notice of the eviction and causing him emotional stress with the sudden move.

However, convalescent center officials have said that White’s 55-year-old daughter was given ample notice that her father would have to leave the home if a $5,000 bill for his room and board was not paid.

Under state nursing home and Medicaid guidelines, residents can be evicted for not paying rent as well as for medical problems or behavior that are detrimental to the welfare of other patients.

But Bet Tzedek Legal Services, a nonprofit legal agency that is representing White, contends that state laws protecting tenants also apply. Under those laws, a landlord must get a court order to evict a tenant who does not leave voluntarily, and the county marshal must give the tenant five days’ notice to move before eviction takes place.

White, a former steelworker from Newport, Ky., came to California when his health began to fail. He lived in a series of homes, including an alcoholism recovery center and retirement home, before settling at Angeles Convalescent Center.

His daughter, named Marian, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that both she and her father are glad to see the ordeal come to an end.

“It’s been a hardship because I can’t take care of him properly,” White said, adding that she was initially told her father would be allowed back in the home as early as Monday. “I haven’t been able to find anybody who can take care of him.”