CHARLESTON - Erin Winter and Andrew Paternostro of Bell & Bands in Charleston filed three wrongful death suits against nursing homes in two days.

On June 9 they sued Health Care and Retirement Corporation, owner of Heartland nursing home in Charleston, on behalf of Kanawha County resident Carl Kessell.

They claimed his mother, Reba Kessell, suffered weight loss and dehydration. They claimed she fell several times. They claimed another resident abused her.

Later that day they sued the same company on behalf of Carol McClure, daughter of the late James Wells.

They claimed he suffered skin tears and wounds. They claimed he developed pressure ulcers because workers failed to turn him or otherwise provide relief.

They claimed lack of care for his catheter led to infection and dehydration.

On June 10 they sued Sunbridge Care and Rehabilitation of Dunbar on behalf of Clay County resident Donald Samples, widower of Nora Carmin Samples.

They claimed that on her second day at Sunbridge, she fell and broke her neck. She died nine days later, they wrote.

The Sunbridge suit seeks punitive damages.

The court assigned Kessell's suit to Circuit Judge Duke Bloom, McClure's suit to Circuit Judge James Stucky, and Samples's suit to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey Walker.