The Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a wrongful death lawsuit against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his 2020 order forcing COVID-positive patients into nursing homes, a directive that families say killed thousands of elderly residents.
The high court denied certiorari in the case led by Daniel Arbeeny of Brooklyn, who sued Cuomo after his 89-year-old father, Norman, a Korean War veteran, died in a nursing home following the March 25, 2020 directive. The order required nursing facilities to accept COVID-19-positive patients from hospitals, a policy Cuomo’s team argued was necessary to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed.
“The Supreme Court doesn’t erase what was done and the truth of what happened,” Arbeeny told The New York Post. “Nine thousand COVID-positive patients were forced into nursing homes with deadly consequences. The administration lied about the deaths. The facts don’t change. The death toll is horrific. It didn’t have to happen.”
Arbeeny said he was “disappointed” with the court’s decision and that he has now exhausted all avenues of appeal.
The case had previously been dismissed in 2024 by Eastern District of New York Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall, a ruling the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld. Both lower courts found that Cuomo was shielded by qualified immunity, the legal doctrine protecting government officials from personal liability when their conduct does not violate clearly established law.
The Supreme Court offered no explanation for its denial, which is standard practice for such orders.
Ultimately, some 15,000 seniors died from COVID-19 in New York nursing homes. Cuomo’s administration later faced allegations of undercounting those deaths. A congressional report alleged that his team lowballed the death toll, potentially to shield Cuomo from political fallout.
Arbeeny filed his original lawsuit in 2022 and was joined by other families. The case was widely viewed as the most significant civil litigation stemming from the nursing home scandal.
