New Jersey has agreed to pay $52.9 million to the families of 119 residents who died of COVID-19 early on in the pandemic, an official confirmed to NJ Advance Media.
Two of the state's veterans homes reported some of the highest COVID-related death tolls in the nation at the time, with more than 200 residents dying. The facilities are the subject of an ongoing federal investigation and a separate investigation by the state attorney general.
The Dec. 23 report said the state will pay 60 percent of the settlement within 90 days of the receipt of all "closing papers" from all plaintiffs. The amount each family will receive depends upon the decisions reached in arbitration.