A recent investigation by Hunterbrook reports that The Ensign Group, the largest operator of skilled nursing facilities in the United States, systematically understaffs its facilities, resulting in millions of hours of missing care for some of the nation’s sickest and most vulnerable residents.
Part one of the investigation examined millions of CMS datapoints and reviewed thousands of pages of documents, finding a 5-million-hour gap between the nursing care Ensign’s residents needed and the care they received between July and November 2024.
Hunterbrook interviewed Dudensing Law founder Ed Dudensing as part of its reporting. “The regulation is that you have to staff to meet the needs of residents, and that consistently does not happen,” said Ed. “That’s illegal.”
The investigation also found that Ensign facilities consistently failed to meet minimum state staffing requirements in California, Washington, Tennessee, and Kansas on more than 18,000 cumulative days between 2020 and 2025.
We’re proud to announce that Dudensing Law has once again been recognized in the prestigious 2026 Chambers and Partners USA Guide, maintaining its ranking in Band 3 for Litigation: Mainly Plaintiffs – California. This year’s recognition carries added distinction, as firm founder Ed Dudensing also earned an individual ranking in the same practice category.
Dudensing Law is proud to announce that Founder Ed Dudensing has been named an “Attorney of the Year” finalist for the 2026 California Legal Awards, presented by Law.com and The Recorder.
The California Legal Awards recognize the state’s most accomplished attorneys across practice areas, honoring those who have demonstrated exceptional skill, leadership, and impact in the law.
Ed Dudensing has built Dudensing Law into one of California’s premier firms for elder abuse and neglect litigation. Combining meticulous trial strategy with a deep commitment to fighting for elders and their families, he has secured historic jury verdicts and multimillion-dollar recoveries while driving systemic reform in long-term care facilities across the state.
Dudensing Law Founder Ed Dudensing is featured in a new KFF Health News investigation published in NPR that exposes how real estate investment trusts (REITs) have taken control of the nation’s nursing homes and assisted living facilities with devastating consequences for residents.
The piece, “Real estate investors are buying up long-term care facilities. Residents can suffer,” discusses a recent Dudensing Law verdict. In March 2026, a Sacramento County jury awarded a $110 million total verdict against Colony Capital, the publicly traded REIT, and Formation Capital, the private equity investment firm that oversaw Greenhaven Estates, on behalf of the four daughters of Mildred Hernandez. Mildred was 100 years old, lived with Alzheimer’s dementia, and died of hypothermia after wandering from the facility in the middle of the night. The verdict is the largest elder neglect verdict against an assisted living facility in California history.
As Ed told NPR: “REIT money is very detached from knowing about or caring about patient or resident outcomes, because it’s not in their business model. Their allegiance is to their investors.”
April 15, 2026 Originally published by Daily Journal
Dudensing Law Founder Ed Dudensing recently authored an article in the Daily Journal titled “Why Loosening Sedative Rules in Nursing Homes Would Put Vulnerable Patients at Serious Risk.” The piece offers a powerful look at the growing threat of chemical restraint to nursing home residents across the country and the federal rollback that could make it worse.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ own watchdog recently confirmed what elder abuse attorneys have long known: nursing homes are administering dangerous antipsychotic drugs to dementia patients not for medical need, but to reduce staffing demands, and falsifying diagnoses to hide it.
The article details the human cost of this practice, including the case of Alando Williams, a Dudensing Law client and California nursing home resident who died in January 2023 after it is alleged that staff sedated him with Ativan and morphine as a substitute for proper supervision. “Mr. Williams’ case is not an exception,” Ed warns, citing a 2021 federal review that found more than 12,000 residents receiving antipsychotics never appeared in facility records as having received them.
Ed’s piece raises concerns about a federal proposal to roll back reporting requirements for antipsychotic use in nursing homes. “The answer to an imperfect oversight mechanism is not to gut it,” he writes. “The answer is to strengthen it by requiring non-pharmacological interventions to be documented before prescribing, closing the schizophrenia diagnosis loophole, and implementing staffing requirements that would make sedation unnecessary in the first place. “
Dudensing Law is proud to announce that Founder Ed Dudensing has been named to the 2026 Lawdragon 100 Managing Partners You Need to Know guide. The guide highlights the nation’s top law firm leaders who combine exceptional legal skill with outstanding firm management and vision.
On March 3, 2026, a Sacramento County jury returned a $110 million total verdict in favor of the family of Mildred Hernandez, a 100-year-old assisted living resident who died after wandering outside her facility and freezing to death. The verdict was secured by Dudensing Law founder Ed Dudensing and fellow attorneys Jay Renneisen and Rolando Hidalgo after a two-month trial before Judge Jeffrey Galvin. It holds a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT), Colony Capital, and a private equity firm, Formation Capital, responsible for corporate decisions that left residents at serious risk.
Dudensing Law is proud to share that founder and lead counsel Edward Dudensing was featured in Law.com’s How I Founded a Law Firm series, reflecting on his journey from prosecutor to law firm founder and the mission behind Dudensing Law.
In the feature, Ed discusses what inspired him to launch a firm dedicated to protecting vulnerable seniors, the lessons he learned building a practice from the ground up, and the importance of developing strong trial, leadership, and business skills.
“Know your niche, build systems early, and be willing to bet on yourself,” Ed said. “You don’t need to know everything; you just need to keep learning and moving forward.”
The profile also explores how Dudensing Law has grown into a firm focused on accountability in long-term care and advocacy for families impacted by elder abuse and neglect.
Dudensing Law, alongside co-counsel Buckley Law, recently secured a $15.75 million total jury verdict on behalf of the family of Ruby Evans, a vulnerable senior who suffered severe neglect while residing at Windsor Vallejo Care Center.
Dudensing Law is proud to announce that Ed Dudensing has been selected to the 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America list, a respected national honor.
