Health Law Daily Wrap Up, COVID-19—E.D.N.Y.: Nursing home resident executor’s claims against New York State officials entirely dismissed, (Jan 23, 2026)

By Justin Marcus Smith, J.D.

Nothing in a recent United States Supreme Court decision changed the fundamental requirement that civil RICO is about recovery for harms to business and property and implicitly excludes recovery for personal injury.

The executor-grandson of a deceased nursing home resident’s estate failed to state actionable claims against New York State government officials and others in connection with the State’s COVID-19 pandemic response, held the federal district court in Brooklyn, New York. First, the Section 1983 claim failed because the limitations period expired. Civil RICO claims failed because the complaint did not identify harm to business or property. The court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over state law claims. The court dismissed all claims of the complaint against all New York officials, including former Governor Andrew Cuomo, and all other responding parties. The court did not address whether any further amendment, with respect to the RICO claim, was possible (Alexander v. Cuomo, No. 24-cv-02179 (NCM) (ST) (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 16, 2026)).

Background. A natural person, as executor of the estate of his deceased grandfather (decedent), sued New York State governor Andrew Cuomo, other state government officials, a hospital trade group and its leader, and a healthcare network and its leader (collectively, the New York parties), in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The executor alleged the New York parties conspired to increase the number of COVID-positive patients admitted to nursing homes. The executor alleged the conspiracy culminated with an improper emergency executive order issued on March 25, 2025. That order directed that “[n]o resident shall be denied re-admission to a nursing home solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.” The order also prohibited nursing homes “from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.” Governor Cuomo issued an identical order to assisted living facilities on April 7, 2020.

The executor alleged the two orders caused the admission of over 9,000 COVID-19 patients to New York State nursing homes and resulted in over 20,000 unnecessary COVID-19 deaths. The executor further alleged the decedent had been a nursing home resident at the start of the pandemic. The decedent had been in declining health; began experiencing COVID-19 symptoms on March 26, 2020, the day after Governor Cuomo issued the nursing home order; and died in hospital three days later on March 29, 2020, aged 75. The death certificate listed “cardiopulmonary failure due to COVID-19.”

The executor’s first amended complaint filed November 1, 2024, asserted claims for: (1) violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c); (2) RICO conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d); (3) violation of civil rights under 42 U.S.C § 1983; (4) common law fraud; and (5) common law civil conspiracy.

In April 2025, all of the New York parties moved for dismissal. They variously raised a number of arguments, including: qualified immunity; failure to plead plausible causation; expiration of the limitations period; and failure to plead elements of civil RICO.

Section 1983 claim. The Section 1983 claim was timed-out. The executor had three years and 228 days to file a complaint for the Section 1983 claim. The limitations period is ordinarily only three years, but New York tolled it for 228 days in light of the pandemic. The executor filed the initial complaint on March 25, 2024, three years and 362 days after decedent’s death. The executor did not attempt to address or rebut arguments raised about the expiration of time. The court said that amounted to a concession. The court accordingly dismissed the Section 1983 claim.

RICO claims. The civil RICO and civil RICO conspiracy claims failed because the text of the RICO statute only permits recovery for harms to “business or property.” The complaint failed to identify any. The complaint instead sought non-cognizable redress for personal injuries, wrongful death, loss of consortium, and deprivation of constitutional rights.

The court analyzed that RICO does not provide redress of deprivation of constitutional rights because that is a personal injury if there is no injury to property or business. A single, “bald” reference to injury in “business and property” was conclusory, devoid of factual allegations, did not identify a specific business or piece of property, and went on only to reiterate personal injuries.

The court continued that the recent Horn opinion did not change the analysis because Horn did not say that personal injury can suffice for a RICO claim in lieu of injury to business or property. See Medical Marijuana, Inc. v. Horn, 604 U.S. 593 (2025). Instead, the court held that if a personal injury causes damage to business or property, e.g., in the event injury inflicted on a key person leads to business closure, that would be actionable as a civil RICO claim. Again, the executor failed to respond to arguments about this, and the court likewise concluded the executor conceded the point. Accordingly, the executor failed to state a claim for civil RICO or civil RICO conspiracy.

State claims. The state law claims failed because dismissal of the Section 1983 and RICO claims left no federal claims, and the court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction. The court noted the executor did not plead diversity. The court dismissed the state law claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The case is No. 24-cv-02179 (NCM) (ST).

Judge: Merle, N.

Attorneys: Daniel W. Isaacs (Law Offices of Daniel W. Isaacs, PLLC) for Nicholas Alexander. Alexander S. Holland (Glavin PLLC) for Andrew M. Cuomo. Gregory Morvillo (Morvillo PLLC) for Melissa DeRosa. Jeremy Creelan (Jenner & Block LLP) for Greater New York Hospital Association.

Companies: Greater New York Hospital Association

Cases: CaseDecisions Covid19 SNFNews NewYorkNews