The $100m exposure: Rethinking risk in senior living and private equity

As large jury verdicts continue to rise, often exceeding $100 million, punitive damages have emerged as the most significant and least understood exposure in the senior living sector. This presentation explores the evolving liability landscape in California, where risk increasingly extends beyond operators to include REITs, private equity sponsors and board-level decision makers.

We will examine why traditional insurance structures frequently fail to address punitive damage exposure, highlighting critical gaps in general liability, professional liability, and directors & officers' coverage. Attendees will gain insight into how findings of malice, conscious disregard, and governance failures can drive catastrophic and often uninsured financial outcomes.

The session provides a practical framework for mitigating these risks through a coordinated, layered insurance strategy, punitive wrap solutions and practical risk mitigation techniques.

This session also incorporates practical guidance from an experienced senior living attorney on how to proactively prepare for and defend against punitive damage claims.

Objectives

- Understand emerging liability exposure: Examine the rise of nuclear verdicts and punitive damages in senior living, including how liability is expanding beyond operators to impact REITs, private equity sponsors and board members.

- Identify insurance gaps and financial risk: Recognize where traditional insurance programs (general liability, professional liability, and D&O) fall short in addressing punitive damage exposure, and how findings such as malice or governance failures can lead to significant uninsured losses.

- Apply risk mitigation and transfer strategies: Learn practical approaches to reducing punitive damage risk, including layered insurance structures, punitive wrap solutions, and proactive legal and operational strategies informed by experienced counsel.

This program has been approved for a total of 1 (one) contact hour(s) of continuing education credit toward fulfillment of the requirements of ASHRM designations of fellow (FASHRM) and distinguished fellow (DFASHRM) and towards certified professional in healthcare risk management (CPHRM) renewal.