Minneapolis Star Tribune: Minnesota Victims of Nursing Home Abuse Challenge Arbitration Clauses (1/29/2017) Arbitration agreements are proliferating in the senior care industry. Many times potential residents are required to sign them as a condition of admission. The clauses require residents to forfeit their right to a court hearing in cases of neglect, abuse, wrongful eviction, and even death. The nursing home industry uses these agreements to block residents and their families from pursuing lawsuits. A new federal rule that is part of new nursing home regulations implemented last fall bars long-term care facilities that receive federal funding from requiring residents enter into arbitration before a dispute arises. “More and more people are waking up to the essential unfairness and lack of transparency of these clauses,” said Eric Carlson, directing attorney of Justice in Aging.” The rule has been blocked in court, but the government’s case is being cited as evidence that many such clauses are invalid and that victims of maltreatment have a right to their day in court.