The Supreme Court of the United States has declined to hear a wrongful death lawsuit filed against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, effectively ending a legal challenge tied to the state’s COVID-era nursing home policies, as reported by Fox News.
The case was brought by Brooklyn resident Daniel Arbeeny, who alleged that Cuomo’s pandemic directives contributed to the 2020 death of his father, Norman Arbeeny, at age 89. The elder Arbeeny had been released from a Cobble Hill nursing home where COVID-positive patients had been housed.
According to court records, Arbeeny sued Cuomo and then-health commissioner Howard Zucker under federal civil rights law and a state wrongful death statute. The lawsuit argued that policies requiring nursing homes to accept patients returning from hospitals, regardless of COVID-19 status, played a role in fatalities among vulnerable residents.
Deeply disappointed by this decision.
This does not close the chapter for families.Thousands of seniors were lost, and families still deserve answers and accountability.https://t.co/KCAGaM5WEt— Rep. Claudia Tenney (@RepTenney) April 20, 2026
A lower federal court dismissed the case on qualified immunity grounds, a legal doctrine that generally protects government officials from liability for actions taken in their official roles. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that dismissal, and the Supreme Court’s decision not to take the case leaves those rulings in place.
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The high court did not provide a reason for declining to hear the appeal.
Cuomo’s representatives responded to the decision by pointing to prior findings related to the policy. Rich Azzopardi, a longtime spokesman for Cuomo, said the outcome aligns with previous legal and investigative conclusions.
“For six long years, families have had to deal with unimaginable losses of loved ones from COVID, and it doesn’t get easier, especially when that pain was manipulated and politicized,” Azzopardi said.
“Every investigation and every court to examine these claims has reached the same conclusion: there was no wrongdoing by Governor Cuomo or his administration,” he added. “Today, the Supreme Court joins that list.”
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Daniel Arbeeny expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome in comments to New York media.
“The Supreme Court doesn’t erase what was done and the truth of what happened. Nine thousand COVID-positive patients were forced into nursing homes with deadly consequences,” he told the New York Post.
The dispute stems from a controversial policy issued during the early months of the pandemic, when state officials sought to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. The directive barred nursing homes from refusing admission to patients solely based on a COVID-19 diagnosis.
Cuomo’s office has consistently maintained that the policy aligned with federal guidance at the time and was intended to free hospital capacity for more severe cases. In legal filings, Cuomo stated that the goal was to return patients who were no longer contagious to facilities equipped to provide care.
Azzopardi reiterated that position, noting that multiple reviews, including those by the Department of Justice, the New York County District Attorney’s Office, and the New York State Attorney General’s Office, found the state’s actions consistent with broader practices.
He also cited a New York State Department of Health report referenced in court documents, indicating that the Cobble Hill facility, where Norman Arbeeny had been a patient, admitted its first COVID-positive individual days after his discharge.
The issue drew renewed attention during Cuomo’s 2025 mayoral campaign. A bipartisan group of political figures, including Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Brooklyn State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, publicly called for accountability.
Family members of victims also spoke out. Norman Arbeeny’s son, Peter Arbeeny, addressed Cuomo during that period.
“You need to face us and apologize. If you are going to lead, you are going to lead for all of us,” he told the Brooklyn Paper.
The controversy over nursing home deaths during the pandemic has remained a point of political and legal debate. State data obtained by Fox News previously showed that reported nursing home deaths totaled 8,505 through January 2021, while the overall figure exceeded 12,000.
In a separate interview, New York State Assemblyman Ron Kim commented on the broader public discussion surrounding the issue, while Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean, whose in-laws died in a nursing home, also weighed in on the handling of the case.
The Supreme Court’s decision brings the legal challenge to a close without further review.
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