Frankland v. Etehad (Aug. 8, 2025, B338370) ___ Cal.App.5th ___ [2025 WL 2267750]
James Frankland was admitted to Casitas Care Center, where Dr. Siamak Etehad provided in-facility resident care. After several months, Frankland’s health deteriorated and he was transferred to a hospital where he later died. Plaintiff, Frankland’s brother, sued Casitas and Dr. Etehad, alleging neglect and financial abuse under the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act. Dr. Etehad filed a demurrer, arguing plaintiff’s neglect claim failed because Dr. Etehad lacked a caretaking or custodial relationship with Frankland, and plaintiff’s financial abuse claim failed because Medicare payments are not a property right belonging to Frankland. The trial court agreed and sustained the demurrer without leave to amend. Plaintiff appealed.
The Court of Appeal affirmed. The court concluded that plaintiff failed to state a claim for “neglect” under the Act because plaintiff had not sufficiently alleged that Dr. Etehad had the requisite “robust caretaking or custodial relationship” with Frankland. The court explained that intermittent, episodic, limited, or casual engagement or interaction with an elder does not create the necessary relationship. The court reasoned that physicians working in care facilities do not enter into a caretaking or custodial relationship with the facility’s patients simply by providing services to the facility’s patients. The court held the financial abuse claim failed because Welfare and Institutions Code section 15657.2 is inapplicable to claims based solely on professional negligence.
