Veterans Memorial Home at Menlo Park in New Jersey. Photo: Google

New Jersey could be on the hook for more than $140 million over COVID-19 infections at two of the state's veterans homes.

At least 28 tort claims notices have been filed in the past month in connection with the facilities in Paramus and Menlo Park. The notices claim management was grossly negligent and incompetent in their response to the pandemic.

Paul daCosta filed 15 claims notices, all pertaining to the Menlo Park facility, and Frank Rodriguez filed 12 involving Menlo Park and one for Paramus. All but three of the claims involve deaths, and the two lawyers have estimated damages at $5 million for each case.

While nursing homes have had high concentrations of COVID-19 deaths, the virus has had a particularly deadly impact at the two state-run facilities. At Menlo Park, 62 residents and one employee have died of COVID-19, and at Paramus, 80 residents and one employee have died, according to data from the state.

According to the claims notices, the Menlo Park facility's administration directed staff not to wear masks or gloves because it might frighten the residents. Management also waited more than a month after the first patient was diagnosed with COVID-19 to isolate those residents, and continued to permit residents to congregate in common areas of the building, the notices said.

In addition, management at the Menlo Park facility allowed staff who were infected or presumed to be infected to continue working, prevented staff from gaining access to personal protection equipment, and recklessly endangered the safety and well-being of patients and staff by failing to promptly implement appropriate measures, such as infectious disease outbreak plans, the tort claims state.

"The failure to recognize the need for staff to be equipped with PPE is a very flagrant aspect, in my opinion. Another aspect that our investigation has shown is that the facility failed to cohort-sequester residents that were showing signs of presumed COVID-19. Also, the fact that they simply were not testing," said daCosta, of Snyder, Sarno, D'Aniello, Maceri & daCosta.

Ten of daCosta's cases involve suits filed by spouses, children and other relatives on behalf of residents of the facility who died. One was filed on behalf of an employee of the facility who died after allegedly contracting the virus at work. Three others were filed on behalf of people who died after contracting the virus from family members who worked at the facility. And one was filed on behalf of a young adult who contracted the virus from his mother, and is now hospitalized and on a ventilator.

All of Rodriguez's cases involve residents of the facilities, and all but two of his cases are filed on behalf of people who died.

Rodriguez, who is with Javerbaum, Wurgaft, Hicks, Kahn, Wikstrom & Sinins, said the veterans home cases will get past the state immunity law because management failed to adhere to their facilities' infectious disease control plans.

"If you failed to institute those things, the likelihood is sooner or later, you're going to have an outbreak," he said.

The state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, which runs the facilities, did not return a call seeking comment. A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office declined to comment.