Lawsuit in soldier’s home virus outbreak filed against 5

July 17, 2020 3:05 pm

AP,

BOSTON (AP) — The family of a Korean War veteran who died during a coronavirus outbreak at a Massachusetts home for ailing veterans filed a $176 million federal lawsuit Friday against five former home officials.

The suit filed by the family of Joseph Sniadach, an 84-year-old veteran who died at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke on April 27, seeks class-action status. It appears to be the first lawsuit filed in connection with the coronavirus-related deaths of 76 veterans at the facility.

The defendants are former home Superintendent Bennett Walsh, former secretary of the state’s Department of Veterans’ Services Francisco Urena, and three other former home administrators.

“Each of these five defendants acted with deliberate indifference to the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, an indifference that resulted in the spread of COVID-19 throughout the Soldiers’ Home,” the lawsuit says. “The spread of COVID-19 at the Soldiers’ Home was preventable.”

The suit alleges they violated the veteran’s civil rights by acting with indifference.

Leadership at the home failed to follow state and federal guidelines issued in February and March aimed at containing COVID-19 at assisted living facilities and nursing homes, the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Thomas Lesser and Michael Aleo, said.

Walsh’s attorney, William Bennett, said in an email to The Associated Press that he is reviewing the complaint and will make a public statement next week.

Bennett, who is Walsh’s uncle, previously said that Walsh acted appropriately in handling the virus outbreak at the facility.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Urena had a lawyer to comment on his behalf.