On Wednesday, the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a group of  patients can sue Covenant Care for allegedly violating California nurse-staffing  standards, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Covenant Care owns 16 nursing homes in Alameda County.

State standards require long-term skilled-nursing facilities to provide each  patient with 3.2 hours of nursing care per day.

Details of Legal Action

The patients filed a lawsuit against Covenant alleging that it violated state  standards at least 35% of the time over a four-year period, beginning in  December 2006.