Kyomi Williams, represented by Ed Dudensing, spoke with ABC 7 San Francisco about the death of her father Alando Williams at Windsor Healthcare Center of Oakland. Alando, a beloved Berkeley community member, was admitted to the facility in December 2022 with a clear treatment plan. In a lawsuit against the facility, Kyomi alleges staff neglected his care requirements and instead administered unauthorized doses of sedatives, such as Ativan, resulting in wrongful death.
“That’s basically chemically restraining someone, because it’s easier when they’re drugged up to supervise them. It’s a very uncompassionate way to deal with people, and it can be deadly, as it was in this case.”
– Ed Dudensing
The facility is currently managed by a parent company owned by billionaire Shlomo Rechnitz, which oversees dozens of nursing home facilities in California. Many of these facilities have recently come under scrutiny for deficient quality of care.
Elder abuse attorney Ed Dudensing represents Cheryl Doe, a 79-year-old woman, and her son Robert, in a February 2024 lawsuit against the Windsor Healthcare Center of Oakland regarding the alleged rape, elder neglect, and fraud she was victim to while under its care for Alzheimer’s and dementia.
A preliminary investigation by Dudensing law found that after Robert’s mother was raped by another resident, he was not informed until days after the incident. Rather than the managerial staff at the center, a certified nursing assistant was the one who told Robert about both the assault and the center’s intentional concealing of the attack. Emboldened by the center’s inaction after the first attack, the offender again accessed Cheryl’s room where he retaliated, leaving bruises and wounds on her body.
Windsor Healthcare Center of Oakland sits under Brius Management Company, a large nursing home operator similar to others Dudensing Law has brought cases against, citing abuse of the vulnerable elderly population entrusted in their care. Widespread understaffing of nursing facilities subjects residents to dangerous conditions, and by seeking justice for victims and holding these companies accountable, Dudensing Law strives to ensure that senior citizens receive the care they deserve.
“This really strikes at the heart of the fundamental obligation of nursing homes — keep your patients safe,” said Ed Dudensing. “They have a history of failures of care that not only involves resident-on-resident abuse, like this case, but other areas of neglect as well.”
Office Manager and Senior Litigation Secretary Kari Kalista recently celebrated 15 years with Dudensing Law.
With deep expertise in civil procedure, court rules at every level, and every phase of case development, she has been an anchor of the firm's operations since day one.
Dudensing Law Founder Ed Dudensing led a presentation titled "Financials 101 for Elder Abuse Lawyers" for a California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) webinar, equipping plaintiff-side elder abuse attorneys with the tools to read nursing home financial records as litigation evidence.
The session discussed key financial paperwork and how each document type can reveal deliberate cost-cutting decisions, profit-shifting to affiliated companies, and the financial control structures that connect parent companies to individual facilities.
“How would you describe Dudensing Law’s approach to handling your case?”
Former client Ralph V. says it best: even across three time zones, the Dudensing Law team made sure every member of his family felt informed, supported, and never alone in the process.
That is the standard we hold ourselves to for every family we represent.
If you or a loved one has experienced elder abuse or neglect, we are here to help: dudensinglaw.com/contact/
The nursing home that neglected your loved one probably doesn't own itself.
In his Rutter Group treatise on elder abuse litigation, founder Ed Dudensing writes extensively about the corporate structures behind California's long-term care facilities.
A typical defendant isn't a single entity; it's generally a licensed operator owned by a management company, owned by a holding company, owned by a private equity fund, with the actual assets held somewhere entirely separate.
Founder Ed Dudensing was recently interviewed by Law.com's The Recorder in recognition of his selection as a finalist for the 2026 California Legal Awards “Attorney of the Year”.
The piece dives into what drives Ed's work, passions, and what he sees as a defining threat to elder care today.
As Ed told Law.com, "Now, with big finance becoming more and more involved, there's just such a fundamental misalignment, because big finance reports to investors. They don't even pretend to be caring about the residents of these end-use facilities. It's a real estate play, and so it's very frightening."
