Checkett Law Firm Granted Special Action Jurisdiction

John J. Checkett of the Checkett Law Firm obtained relief for their client in their petition for special action before the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One (AZORE, LLC, et al. v. Young, et al., No. 1 CA-SA 14-0212) regarding a trial court’s order that defendants must produce all documents generated by, or at the request of, its Quality Assurance Committee, which were previously claimed to be privileged pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1396r(b)(1)(B).

In an issue of statewide importance and first impression in Arizona, the court of appeals accepted special action jurisdiction and granted relief to defendants in part holding that certain documents which were generated by the nursing home’s quality assurance committee, including detailed tables and graphs which illustrated facility incidents that were used for quality assurance purposes, are privileged and thereby protected from disclosure.

This published decision reinforces the federal quality assurance privilege applicable to licensed skilled nursing facilities.