2023 Consumer Advocate
Susie Talevski
Consumer Advocate Criteria
A Hoosier (not necessarily an attorney) who has made noteworthy contributions to consumer protection. Previous recipients are those who fight to ensure that all Hoosiers enjoy the same quality of life and who advocates for the working men and women of Indiana and obtain justice for those who cannot represent themselves.
Susie's Nomination
Submitted by George Gray
I nominate attorney Susie Talevski for the ITLA 2023 Consumer Advocate of the Year Award. Susie is the daughter of the nursing home resident, Gorgi Talevski, who was the original plaintiff in the recently decided US Supreme Court case of Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County et al. v. Talevski. This case was originally filed in the Northern District of Indiana in January 2019. After the case was dismissed by the district court, Susie and her family appealed the case to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and were able to get the case reversed with the help of pro bono appellate attorneys from Arnold and Porter. The Petitioners filed for a Petition for Certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States. SCOTUS accepted certiorari on May 2, 2022. Oral Arguments were held on November 8, 2022. SCOTUS issued their decision affirming the Seventh Circuit on June 8, 2023.
Susie Talevski is deserving of this award because of her determination to pursue justice on behalf of her father and other Hoosier nursing home residents who have suffered abuse and neglect in violation of their rights established by federal laws such as the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act. In Susie’s 7 year journey for justice, there were many ups and downs. There were national forces urging her to give up her battle, but Susie showed great courage in persevering to continue her legal journey forward to justice. With a favorable US Supreme Court opinion, Susie achieved her goal of providing Sec. 1983 rights and remedies to her father, and to other Hoosier residents in county owned nursing homes. The Talevski opinion also applies nationally to government owned nursing home facilities subject to the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act.
Susie Talevski is an attorney practicing in Valparaiso, Indiana. In 2016, Gorgi Talevski was a nursing home resident in Valparaiso. When the Talevski family felt that their husband and father was being over-medicated to keep him sedated and asleep, that his dementia was not being treated properly, and that he had been improperly transferred to another nursing home, Susie started to explore the family’s legal options. The family made a Complaint to the Indiana State Department of Health, but it did not result in any citations by that agency. After winning an administrative appeal, the nursing home refused to abide by the ALJ’s decision. The Indiana State Department of Health refused to enforce the ALJ’s decision.
Susie decided to explore other legal options. Since Susie is not a medical malpractice attorney, she consulted with several medical malpractice attorneys who declined her father’s case based on the requirement that the case would have to go through the Indiana Med Mal panel process. However, once Susie discovered that the actual owner of the nursing home was the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County, a governmental entity wholly owned by Maron County. Susie realized that the violations of her father’s federal rights as established by the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act might be enforceable via Sec. 1983. After researching the law, Susie found a Third Circuit Court of Appeals case exactly on point where a nursing home neglect/abuse case was pursued against a county owned nursing home in federal court under a Sec. 1983 theory. Susie also found a Sec. 1983 nursing home case filed in the U.S. District Court in Indiana that was dismissed but it was not appealed to the 7th Circuit. Susie decided to file her father’s case in Indiana federal district court alleging a Sec. 1983 violation. The case was dismissed by the district court. Susie decided to appeal her father’s case to the Seventh Circuit, hoping to establish precedent that she knew would have a wide favorable impact for Hoosier nursing home patients. Indiana attorney Jay Meisenhelder joined Susie in taking the case to federal court.
After her case was dismissed by the district court, senior appellate attorney Andrew Tutt and his team from Arnold & Porter of Washington, D.C. stepped into the case to work with Susie to represent her father in the 2023 ITLA Awards Nominations Page 9 Seventh Circuit. On July 27, 2022, the 7th Circuit ruled in favor of the Talevski family and recognized their right to bring a Sec. 1983 action.
However, the defendant owner HHC and its agent management company, American Senior Communities, decided to appeal the 7th Circuit decision. As an enticement for the US Supreme Court to accept certiorari, an added ground for appeal was added. The defendants argued that Sec. 1983 was an improper remedy to enforce a federal funding statute. This put at issue the long-established case law and precedents allowing Medicaid recipients and disabled persons to use Sec. 1983 to enforce their federal rights when being denied benefits by the state.
When the Supreme Court granted certiorari, the consensus among legal experts was that the Court took the case to reverse. The entire social safety net of the country was at risk. Susie was heavily lobbied by many national advocacy groups to dismiss her father’s case since there was a sincere concern by them that the Supreme Court accepted certiorari to use the case to set back the established rights of Medicaid and disabled persons to use Sec 1983.
Susie spent many anxious moments and sleepless nights worrying about doing the right thing. After careful consideration of all the possible outcomes and consequences, Susie decided to move forward and fight to the end. On June 8, 2023, Susie’s long legal saga reached its dramatic climax when the Supreme Court issued their opinion. In what legal experts are calling a legal miracle, SCOTUS upheld the right of private persons, such as the Talevski family, to enforce federal nursing home law using Sec. 1983. The opinion also affirmed that private parties can continue to use Sec 1983 to enforce federal Medicaid law against the states in charge of administrating Medicaid. With this monumental victory at SCOTUS, the Talevski case is now the law of the land and a landmark civil rights case.
The advocacy, determination and bravery of Susie Talevski has provided Hoosier families with a new and powerful legal remedy for county owned nursing home abuse and neglect. Susie’s hope has always been that this legal victory will motivate the Indiana’s county owned nursing homes to improve the quality of care for her fellow Hoosiers.
The Talevski Supreme Court opinion can be found at https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21- 806_2dp3.pdf
Thank you for considering Susie Talevski for the ITLA 2023 Consumer Advocate of the Year Award.
Susie Talevski is deserving of this award because of her determination to pursue justice on behalf of her father and other Hoosier nursing home residents who have suffered abuse and neglect in violation of their rights established by federal laws such as the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act. In Susie’s 7 year journey for justice, there were many ups and downs. There were national forces urging her to give up her battle, but Susie showed great courage in persevering to continue her legal journey forward to justice. With a favorable US Supreme Court opinion, Susie achieved her goal of providing Sec. 1983 rights and remedies to her father, and to other Hoosier residents in county owned nursing homes. The Talevski opinion also applies nationally to government owned nursing home facilities subject to the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act.
Susie Talevski is an attorney practicing in Valparaiso, Indiana. In 2016, Gorgi Talevski was a nursing home resident in Valparaiso. When the Talevski family felt that their husband and father was being over-medicated to keep him sedated and asleep, that his dementia was not being treated properly, and that he had been improperly transferred to another nursing home, Susie started to explore the family’s legal options. The family made a Complaint to the Indiana State Department of Health, but it did not result in any citations by that agency. After winning an administrative appeal, the nursing home refused to abide by the ALJ’s decision. The Indiana State Department of Health refused to enforce the ALJ’s decision.
Susie decided to explore other legal options. Since Susie is not a medical malpractice attorney, she consulted with several medical malpractice attorneys who declined her father’s case based on the requirement that the case would have to go through the Indiana Med Mal panel process. However, once Susie discovered that the actual owner of the nursing home was the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County, a governmental entity wholly owned by Maron County. Susie realized that the violations of her father’s federal rights as established by the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act might be enforceable via Sec. 1983. After researching the law, Susie found a Third Circuit Court of Appeals case exactly on point where a nursing home neglect/abuse case was pursued against a county owned nursing home in federal court under a Sec. 1983 theory. Susie also found a Sec. 1983 nursing home case filed in the U.S. District Court in Indiana that was dismissed but it was not appealed to the 7th Circuit. Susie decided to file her father’s case in Indiana federal district court alleging a Sec. 1983 violation. The case was dismissed by the district court. Susie decided to appeal her father’s case to the Seventh Circuit, hoping to establish precedent that she knew would have a wide favorable impact for Hoosier nursing home patients. Indiana attorney Jay Meisenhelder joined Susie in taking the case to federal court.
After her case was dismissed by the district court, senior appellate attorney Andrew Tutt and his team from Arnold & Porter of Washington, D.C. stepped into the case to work with Susie to represent her father in the 2023 ITLA Awards Nominations Page 9 Seventh Circuit. On July 27, 2022, the 7th Circuit ruled in favor of the Talevski family and recognized their right to bring a Sec. 1983 action.
However, the defendant owner HHC and its agent management company, American Senior Communities, decided to appeal the 7th Circuit decision. As an enticement for the US Supreme Court to accept certiorari, an added ground for appeal was added. The defendants argued that Sec. 1983 was an improper remedy to enforce a federal funding statute. This put at issue the long-established case law and precedents allowing Medicaid recipients and disabled persons to use Sec. 1983 to enforce their federal rights when being denied benefits by the state.
When the Supreme Court granted certiorari, the consensus among legal experts was that the Court took the case to reverse. The entire social safety net of the country was at risk. Susie was heavily lobbied by many national advocacy groups to dismiss her father’s case since there was a sincere concern by them that the Supreme Court accepted certiorari to use the case to set back the established rights of Medicaid and disabled persons to use Sec 1983.
Susie spent many anxious moments and sleepless nights worrying about doing the right thing. After careful consideration of all the possible outcomes and consequences, Susie decided to move forward and fight to the end. On June 8, 2023, Susie’s long legal saga reached its dramatic climax when the Supreme Court issued their opinion. In what legal experts are calling a legal miracle, SCOTUS upheld the right of private persons, such as the Talevski family, to enforce federal nursing home law using Sec. 1983. The opinion also affirmed that private parties can continue to use Sec 1983 to enforce federal Medicaid law against the states in charge of administrating Medicaid. With this monumental victory at SCOTUS, the Talevski case is now the law of the land and a landmark civil rights case.
The advocacy, determination and bravery of Susie Talevski has provided Hoosier families with a new and powerful legal remedy for county owned nursing home abuse and neglect. Susie’s hope has always been that this legal victory will motivate the Indiana’s county owned nursing homes to improve the quality of care for her fellow Hoosiers.
The Talevski Supreme Court opinion can be found at https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21- 806_2dp3.pdf
Thank you for considering Susie Talevski for the ITLA 2023 Consumer Advocate of the Year Award.