Litigation

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2022

Litigation [Abstract]

Litigation

10. Litigation

The Company has been and is currently involved in litigation and claims incidental to the conduct of its business, which it believes are generally comparable to other companies in the senior living and healthcare industries, including, but not limited to, putative class action claims from time to time regarding staffing at the Company's communities and compliance with consumer protection laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Certain claims and lawsuits allege large damage amounts and may require significant costs to defend and resolve. As a result, the Company maintains general liability, professional liability, and other insurance policies in amounts and with coverage and deductibles the Company believes are appropriate, based on the nature and risks of its business, historical experience, availability, and industry standards. The Company's current policies provide for deductibles for each claim and contain various exclusions from coverage. Accordingly, the Company is, in effect, self-insured for claims that are less than the deductible amounts and for claims or portions of claims that are not covered by such policies and/or exceed the policy limits.

The senior living and healthcare industries are continuously subject to scrutiny by governmental regulators, which could result in reviews, audits, investigations, enforcement actions, or litigation related to regulatory compliance matters. In addition, the Company is subject to various government reviews, audits, and investigations to verify compliance with Medicare and Medicaid programs and other applicable laws and regulations. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS") has engaged third-party firms to review claims data to evaluate appropriateness of billings. In addition to identifying overpayments, audit contractors can refer suspected violations to government authorities. An adverse outcome of government scrutiny may result in citations, sanctions, other criminal or civil fines and penalties, the refund of overpayments, payment suspensions, termination of participation in Medicare and Medicaid programs, and damage to the Company’s business reputation. The Company’s costs to respond to and defend any such audits, reviews, and investigations may be significant.

In June 2020, the Company and several current and former executive officers were named as defendants in a putative class action lawsuit alleging violations of the federal securities laws filed in the federal court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The lawsuit asserted that the defendants made material misstatements and omissions concerning the Company's business, operational and compliance policies, compliance with applicable regulations and statutes, and staffing practices that caused the Company's stock price to be artificially inflated between August 2016 and April 2020. The district court dismissed the lawsuit and entered judgment in favor of the defendants in September 2021, and the plaintiffs did not file an appeal. Between October 2020 and June 2021, alleged stockholders of the Company filed several stockholder derivative lawsuits in the federal courts for the Middle District of Tennessee and the District of Delaware, which was subsequently transferred to the Middle District of Tennessee. The derivative lawsuits are currently pending and assert claims on behalf of the Company against certain current and former officers and directors for alleged breaches of duties owed to the Company. The complaints incorporate substantively similar allegations to the securities lawsuit described above.