Texas Health and Safety Code 242.020 – Civil Liability Related to Misappropriation of Resident’s Funds
(a) In this section:
(1) “Misappropriate” means the taking, secretion, misapplication, deprivation, transfer, or attempted transfer to any person not entitled to receive any real or personal property or anything of value belonging to or under the legal control of a resident without the effective consent of the resident or other appropriate legal authority.
(2) “Responsible payor” means a person who:
(A) has legal access to the resident’s income or resources available to pay for nursing facility care; and
(B) has signed an admission agreement or other contract with the facility in which the person agrees to provide payment for the resident’s facility care from the resident’s income or resources.
(b) A nursing facility may file an action against a resident’s responsible payor for an amount owed by the resident to the facility if:
(1) before admission of the resident, the facility obtains financial information from the resident or responsible payor demonstrating the amount of financial resources that the resident has available to pay for nursing facility care; and
(2) after the resident begins to reside at the facility, the responsible payor misappropriates the resident’s resources to a degree that the resident is unable to afford to pay for the resident’s care.
Terms Used In Texas Health and Safety Code 242.020
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Signed: includes any symbol executed or adopted by a person with present intention to authenticate a writing. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
(c) A nursing facility may file an action for injunctive relief against a resident’s responsible payor who engages in conduct described by Subsection (b). The court may grant any appropriate injunctive relief to prevent or abate the conduct, including a temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, or permanent injunction.
(d) Subject to Subsection (e), the prevailing party in an action filed under this section may recover attorney’s fees.
(e) In an action filed under this section, a nursing facility may not recover a total amount, including damages and attorney’s fees, that exceeds the amount the responsible payor has misappropriated from the resident.