Navigator: From a Factual Situation to the Right Roadmap Family

How the Navigator works (and what it never does)#

The gateways. Each family section opens with a short paragraph describing what the family covers and what is usually decided first within it. The gateways follow. A gateway is a sentence in a reader's voice — "I was disciplined after reporting a patient-safety problem," "My family member died in custody and the jail has not released records" — chosen because the series encounters that kind of statement repeatedly. Each gateway is presented as a generic illustrative scenario, not a verified account of any particular person. A contextual privacy and privilege review remains required before any external release. After the gateway comes the routing formula and the list of pages, and then, usually, a few sentences describing what each listed page addresses so that a reader can tell which one to open first. The route descriptions are unverified editorial summaries of source-A manuscripts; some contain substantive legal propositions and must be checked individually against the authentic destination body and current authority before publication. A mere matching title does not prove content equivalence.

The product levels. The series has several kinds of page, and the Navigator routes to all of them. A Roadmap explains the law of a subject with its authorities, its elements, its defenses and the records that usually matter. In the historical source-A allocation, a Worksheet (serials 100–124; namespace on hold) organizes a reader's own facts for counsel, under the six-way records key that runs through the series: what a person presently has lawfully; what may be requested under a statute; what only discovery reaches; what is potentially privileged or private; what someone else must preserve but need not produce voluntarily; and what must not be accessed, copied or removed at all. In source A only, a Toolkit or Model (serials 125–132; competing titles not reconciled) shows the anatomy of an administrative complaint, a court pleading, a government claim or a records letter, as an educational model and never as a form. In source A only, a Defense playbook (serials 133–143; competing titles not reconciled) describes likely opposing arguments as subjects for verification, not as established positions in any particular matter. In source A only, a Library (serials 144–149; competing titles not reconciled) is a draft reference subject to independent statute, case-history, entity and provenance checks; its current public deployment and regeneration are not established. The orientation pages — Roadmap 001, the Action Guide at 001.1, the claim-type map at 002 and the fact-first guidebook at 002.1 — sit above all of them, and the forum pages at 096 through 096.3 sit beside them.

How this page differs from 002 and 002.1. Roadmap 002 maps the kinds of claim that arise in this subject in five branches. Roadmap 002.1 takes fourteen recurring statements of fact and, for each one, discusses what it might be, what must be identified first, who can use the processes involved, which forums are potentially involved and what the gateway does not tell the reader. The Navigator is wider and thinner. It attempts to index the historical source-A reference set, but conflicting indexes and the inaccessible Roadmap 051 revision prevent a claim of complete or current routing; some descriptions also contain legal assertions requiring independent review. A reader whose facts match one of the fourteen gateways in 002.1 will find a fuller discussion there.

What the Navigator never does. It never tells a reader that a claim exists or may exist, and it says nothing that implies an evaluation of a reader's facts. It never says whom to sue, whom to name, whom to charge or whom to report; where a gateway concerns entity identity, it routes to the pages that explain how identity is established from documents. It never states a deadline, a period, a trigger date or an amount of time remaining. It never estimates or characterizes any loss, award, penalty or recovery. It never recommends a forum, a sequence of filings or a litigation choice. And it never states that any entity or person did anything unlawful: nothing in this page or in the series states that California Forensic Medical Group, Inc., any Wellpath entity, any county, any sheriff or any clinician violated, committed, caused or is liable for anything.

Role vocabulary. When the series describes who may use a process, it uses plain roles rather than a single technical label, because different processes ask different questions about who may invoke them. The roles that recur are: employee, former employee and applicant; licensed clinician; patient; pretrial detainee; convicted prisoner; former detainee or prisoner; parent or guardian of a minor; personal representative of a decedent's estate; successor in interest; heir; whistleblower; witness; and a person with information but no private claim, who may still be able to report to a licensing board or an oversight body. The Navigator's gateways are written in the voices of those roles.

Reading across families. Most real situations fit gateways in more than one family. A clinician who reported a safety concern and was then terminated may find gateways in the retaliation, employment, professional-independence and regulator families at once; a family whose relative died after a delayed hospital transfer may find gateways in the clinical, death, negligence, records, procedure and bankruptcy families. The source-A manuscripts suggest an information-organizing sequence — the actors (Roadmaps 003 and 005), the entities (004, 094 and Worksheet 101), the chronology (006 and Worksheet 100), preservation and records (007, 033 and 083), the deadline sources (008 and Worksheet 120), and only then, with counsel, the forums (096 and 096.1). That order is a method for organizing information. It is not advice about what any reader should file, where or when.

Entity precision — historical source and case-specific verification required. A public bankruptcy docket reproduction identifies Wellpath CFMG, Inc. as a Chapter 11 debtor (Case No. 24-90556) in the Wellpath group (lead Case No. 24-90533, Bankr. S.D. Tex.); the claims-agent case-information page reports a May 1, 2025 confirmation order and May 9, 2025 effective date. These online summaries are leads, not substitutes for the filed petitions, debtor schedules, confirmation order, plan, trust instruments and later orders. A debtor-list search that does not show the exact name California Forensic Medical Group, Inc. establishes at most nonappearance on that identified historical list, not universal nondebtor status, current ownership or immunity from any claim. Do not equate corporate names, brands or operational roles. Source-A references 003, 004, 090, 091 and 146 are navigation holds, not verified destinations; qualified counsel must examine current docket documents before assessing stay, discharge, release, claimant consent and procedural effects.

Maintenance and precedence (private). The historical source-A reference set contains 150 base manuscripts and 19 supplements, but it is not an authenticated canonical publication index. The competing October 11 source-B index supplies different titles for 125–150 and unresolved identities in earlier held ranges; no source-B body has been authenticated here. A route may be promoted only after comparing actual complete bodies, document hashes, destination titles/URLs, publication state and held links. Roadmap 149 is a candidate historical version register, not proof of a working public correction or deployment pipeline.

Employment#

This family covers the end or the deterioration of an employment relationship: termination and the several distinct theories the word "wrongful" can hide; resignation under pressure; the interaction between a work injury and the employment relationship; the question of which legal entity was the employer; and the damages, discovery and evidence pages that serve every employment claim. In this family the first questions are nearly always classification and identity: what kind of legal question the facts raise, which entity employed the worker, and who actually made the decision. Pages in the disability, retaliation, leave and pay families below often apply to the same facts.

"I was fired, and I do not believe the reason in the letter is the real one." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 010 (California Wrongful Termination: Framework and Potential Theories); 011 (Wrongful Termination in Violation of Public Policy); 139 (Legitimate Reason, Pretext and Same-Decision Defenses in Employment Cases); 033 (Employee Personnel Files: What to Request and Why); and 106 (Adverse Actions and Comparator Evidence Worksheet). Roadmap 010 explains that "wrongful termination" is not a single California cause of action but a set of distinct theories — contract, statute and public policy — each with its own rules, and that classification, not accusation, is the first task. Roadmap 011 explains the narrower public-policy discharge claim and its requirement that the policy be anchored in constitutional or statutory law. Playbook 139 sets out, neutrally, the legitimate-reason, pretext and same-decision arguments the employer side is likely to make. Roadmap 033 explains the statutory requests that obtain the personnel file, payroll records and signed documents, and Worksheet 106 records each adverse action, its stated reason and the comparator information a worker lawfully knows.

"I resigned because I felt I had no real choice." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 010 (California Wrongful Termination: Framework and Potential Theories); 011 (Wrongful Termination in Violation of Public Policy); 139 (Legitimate Reason, Pretext and Same-Decision Defenses in Employment Cases); and 102 (Decisionmakers Worksheet). Roadmap 010 discusses when a resignation may be treated as a constructive discharge and why that is a demanding question of fact. Playbook 139 explains the recharacterization arguments, including the argument that a resignation was voluntary. Worksheet 102 records who made, recommended and approved each decision that preceded the resignation, and what each person knew, from documents and direct knowledge only.

"I was hurt at work, reported it, and was then disciplined or let go." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 037.1 (Workers' Compensation Exclusivity and Employment Claims); 027.2 (State Disability Insurance, Paid Family Leave and Unemployment Insurance); 010 (California Wrongful Termination: Framework and Potential Theories); and 011 (Wrongful Termination in Violation of Public Policy). Roadmap 037.1 explains workers' compensation exclusivity — the trade under which compensation is the exclusive remedy against the employer for a work injury when the statutory conditions are met — and its limits, including the California Supreme Court's treatment of discrimination and public-policy discharge claims alongside it. Roadmap 027.2 explains how State Disability Insurance relates to a possibly industrial injury. Roadmaps 010 and 011 address the termination and public-policy questions that may sit beside the compensation claim.

"My badge, my offer letter and my pay statement name different companies." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 094 (Who Was the Employer? Hiring Notices, Wage Statements, EDD and Agency Records as Evidence of Employer Identity); 095 (Tax Records as Evidence: W-2s, 1099s, IRS and FTB Confidentiality, Worker Classification and the Taxpayer Privilege); 004 (CFMG and Wellpath Corporate Structure for Litigation Purposes); 101 (Entity Identity Worksheet); and 137 (Entity-Identity, Joint-Employer, Integrated-Enterprise and Bankruptcy Defenses). Roadmap 094 explains the documents California law requires to identify an employer — hiring notices, wage statements, EDD records — and why each answers a narrower question than "who was the employer for every purpose." Roadmap 095 explains what W-2s and 1099s do and do not show. Roadmap 004 explains why corporate names in this subject must be checked against primary records, Worksheet 101 records each candidate entity separately, and Playbook 137 explains the "not us" defenses that arise in multi-entity organizations.

"I was paid as an independent contractor, but the work felt like employment." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 095 (Tax Records as Evidence: W-2s, 1099s, IRS and FTB Confidentiality, Worker Classification and the Taxpayer Privilege); 094 (Who Was the Employer? Hiring Notices, Wage Statements, EDD and Agency Records as Evidence of Employer Identity); and 026 (Wage Claims: Unpaid Compensation, Bonuses and Promised Increases). Roadmap 095 explains that tax forms are evidence rather than verdicts, that classification is decided by legal tests that differ by statute and, for certain licensed health-care professionals, by occupation, and that tax information carries its own confidentiality rules. Roadmap 094 places the tax forms among the other employer-identity records, and Roadmap 026 addresses the wage questions that may follow from classification.

"I lost my job and have been looking for other work since." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 037 (Employment Damages and Mitigation); 112 (Damages and Mitigation Worksheet); 138 (Causation, Damages and Mitigation Defenses); and 096.2 (The Remedies Matrix: What Each Forum Can Award, What It Cannot, and the Statutory Limits That Shape Recovery). Roadmap 037 explains the categories of remedy discussed in employment cases, the limits on each, and the mitigation rule, including which side bears which burden. Worksheet 112 records economic losses and efforts to find replacement work, with documents, for counsel. Playbook 138 sets out the damages and mitigation arguments the other side is likely to make, and Roadmap 096.2 places employment remedies beside the remedies of every other forum. None of these pages estimates any amount.

"The employer's lawyers want my documents and my deposition." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 038 (Employment Discovery: What Documents and Testimony Matter); 039 (Employment Case Evidence Matrix); 007 (Evidence Preservation and Litigation Holds); and 143 (Evidentiary, Privilege and Procedural Defenses: Expert Gatekeeping, § 1157, Arbitration, Discovery Sanctions and Dispositive Motions). Roadmap 038 explains discovery in employment cases — the tools, the scope rule, privacy and privilege objections, and the documents and testimony that matter to each element and each defense. Roadmap 039 organizes the evidence by claim in a single matrix under the six-way records key. Roadmap 007 explains preservation, including the boundary between keeping one's own records and taking records one is not entitled to have, and Playbook 143 sets out the evidentiary and procedural defenses that arise in discovery.

"My employer says I was 'at will' and could be let go for any reason." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 028 (Employment Contracts, Offer Letters, Policies and Oral Promises); 010 (California Wrongful Termination: Framework and Potential Theories); and 033 (Employee Personnel Files: What to Request and Why). Roadmap 028 explains California's at-will presumption, the kinds of promise — written, implied, oral and handbook — that the law may recognize against it, and the documents a worker signed and forgot that often decide the question. Roadmap 010 places contract theories beside tort and statutory theories, and Roadmap 033 explains how to obtain copies of every instrument signed to obtain or hold the job.

Disability and accommodation#

This family covers disability discrimination in employment under the federal ADA and California's FEHA, the separate duties to accommodate and to engage in the interactive process, return-to-work and medical-clearance disputes, employer medical inquiries and fitness-for-duty examinations, and safety-based exclusion. The Roadmaps in this family repeatedly stress that these doctrines are related but distinct, that a medical diagnosis does not by itself answer any of them, and that the questions are individualized and functional. Disability in custody is a different body of law and is routed in the clinical family below (Roadmap 068).

"I asked for an accommodation for a medical condition, and the answer was no." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 014 (Failure to Provide Reasonable Accommodation); 015 (Failure to Engage in the Interactive Process); 012 (ADA Disability Discrimination Against Employees and Physicians); 013 (FEHA Disability Discrimination); 105 (Accommodation Requests, Medical Restrictions, Interactive-Process Communications and Return-to-Work Worksheet); and 140 (Accommodation Defenses: Essential Functions, Undue Hardship, Direct Threat and the Interactive Process). Roadmap 014 explains reasonable accommodation as a structured legal duty tied to disability, job functions, notice, effectiveness, feasibility and undue hardship, and why the most important word is often "effective." Roadmap 015 explains California's separate requirement of a timely, good-faith interactive process. Roadmaps 012 and 013 explain the federal and California discrimination frameworks and how they differ. Worksheet 105 records each request, restriction and exchange with dates, and Playbook 140 sets out the essential-function, undue-hardship and direct-threat arguments the employer side is likely to make.

"My doctor released me to work, but my employer will not let me come back until I am 'fully healed.'" These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 016 (Return-to-Work and Medical-Clearance Disputes); 014 (Failure to Provide Reasonable Accommodation); 015 (Failure to Engage in the Interactive Process); and 105 (Accommodation Requests, Medical Restrictions, Interactive-Process Communications and Return-to-Work Worksheet). Roadmap 016 explains that a medical release is important evidence but not a legal command, that an employer may ask focused questions in defined circumstances, and that California regulation addresses blanket "100 percent healed" return policies. Roadmaps 014 and 015 address the accommodation and interactive-process questions that usually travel with a return-to-work dispute, and Worksheet 105 records the return-to-work sequence exactly as it happened.

"My employer ordered a fitness-for-duty examination and asked for my complete medical records." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 017 (Fitness-for-Duty Examinations and Employer Medical Inquiries); 016 (Return-to-Work and Medical-Clearance Disputes); and 018 (The "Direct Threat" Defense and Safety-Based Exclusion From Work). Roadmap 017 explains the federal and California limits on medical examinations and disability-related inquiries of current employees, the "job-related and consistent with business necessity" standard, and the confidentiality rules that govern what an employer learns. Roadmap 016 addresses the related return-to-work questions, and Roadmap 018 addresses the safety-based reasons an employer may give.

"I was taken off patient care because of a medical condition, and the reason given was patient safety." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 018 (The "Direct Threat" Defense and Safety-Based Exclusion From Work); 012 (ADA Disability Discrimination Against Employees and Physicians); 013 (FEHA Disability Discrimination); and 140 (Accommodation Defenses: Essential Functions, Undue Hardship, Direct Threat and the Interactive Process). Roadmap 018 explains the federal "direct threat" framework and California's independently worded safety defense, both of which require individualized assessment based on current medical knowledge or the best objective evidence rather than diagnosis or stereotype. Roadmaps 012 and 013 explain the discrimination frameworks within which the safety question arises, and Playbook 140 explains how the direct-threat argument is presented and who bears which burden.

"My title is 'partner' or 'director,' and I have been told disability law does not treat me as an employee." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 012 (ADA Disability Discrimination Against Employees and Physicians); 013 (FEHA Disability Discrimination); and 094 (Who Was the Employer? Hiring Notices, Wage Statements, EDD and Agency Records as Evidence of Employer Identity). Roadmap 012 explains that, for physicians and others with ownership or governance titles, whether a person is an employee for federal disability law is a threshold question answered by the common-law touchstone of control rather than by a title. Roadmap 013 addresses the California counterpart, and Roadmap 094 addresses the documents that bear on the employment relationship.

"My employer says the accommodation discussion broke down because of me." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 015 (Failure to Engage in the Interactive Process); 140 (Accommodation Defenses: Essential Functions, Undue Hardship, Direct Threat and the Interactive Process); 105 (Accommodation Requests, Medical Restrictions, Interactive-Process Communications and Return-to-Work Worksheet); and 036 (How to Analyze an Employer Position Statement and Prepare a Rebuttal). Roadmap 015 explains that both sides have duties in the interactive process and that California cases ask what accommodation could actually have been available and who was responsible for the breakdown. Playbook 140 sets out the breakdown argument as the employer side presents it. Worksheet 105 records every communication in sequence, and Roadmap 036 explains how an employer's written account of events, given to an agency, may be compared with other records.

"I asked for an accommodation and was disciplined afterwards." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 019 (ADA/FEHA Retaliation); 014 (Failure to Provide Reasonable Accommodation); and 106 (Adverse Actions and Comparator Evidence Worksheet). Roadmap 019 explains that disability retaliation is distinct from disability discrimination, that California separately protects a request for accommodation whether or not it was granted, and that federal and California causation standards differ. Roadmap 014 addresses the request itself, and Worksheet 106 records the adverse actions that followed and their stated reasons.

Retaliation and whistleblowing#

This family covers the legal protections that may attach when a worker or clinician complains, reports, refuses or participates — internally, to a regulator, to a licensing board, to an enforcement agency, or in a discrimination proceeding. The Roadmaps in this family insist that "retaliation" is not one claim: the protection depends on what the person did, what the complaint was about, who received it, which legal source protects it, who knew of it and what followed. The same communication may fit more than one route, and each route keeps its own elements, defenses and clocks.

"I complained internally that a practice broke the law, and my hours were cut soon afterwards." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 020 (Retaliation for Complaints About Patient Care or Workplace Conduct); 021 (California Labor Code §1102.5 Whistleblower Claims); 107 (Protected Reports and Regulatory Complaints Worksheet); 106 (Adverse Actions and Comparator Evidence Worksheet); and 139 (Legitimate Reason, Pretext and Same-Decision Defenses in Employment Cases). Roadmap 020 explains how to classify a complaint before calling the response retaliation. Roadmap 021 explains Labor Code § 1102.5, which can protect qualifying internal disclosures and refusals, and the two-stage proof framework the California Supreme Court has said governs it. Worksheet 107 records each report with its date, recipient, content and response; Worksheet 106 records what followed; and Playbook 139 sets out the same-decision and pretext arguments the employer side is likely to make.

"I reported a patient-safety concern and was then suspended." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 022 (Physician and Clinician Patient-Safety Whistleblowing); 020 (Retaliation for Complaints About Patient Care or Workplace Conduct); 021 (California Labor Code §1102.5 Whistleblower Claims); 107 (Protected Reports and Regulatory Complaints Worksheet); and 108 (Clinical-Decision Interference and Patient-Safety Reports Worksheet). Roadmap 022 explains the overlapping but different protections for physicians and other clinicians who raise patient-safety concerns — Health and Safety Code § 1278.5, Labor Code § 1102.5, and the practitioner-advocacy statutes — and why they must not be collapsed into one another. Roadmaps 020 and 021 address the general retaliation and whistleblower frameworks, and Worksheets 107 and 108 record the reports and the clinical concerns without patient identifiers.

"I reported a concern to a licensing board or a state agency, and my employer found out." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 023 (Retaliation After Reporting to a Licensing Board, Government Agency, EEOC, CRD or Other Regulator); 021 (California Labor Code §1102.5 Whistleblower Claims); 107 (Protected Reports and Regulatory Complaints Worksheet); and 092 (Medical Board of California and Osteopathic Medical Board of California: Complaints, Investigations and Public Records). Roadmap 023 explains the protections that may attach to reports outside the workplace — to a licensing board, a labor or health agency, law enforcement, the EEOC or the Civil Rights Department — and why a report to an official body does not by itself resolve the questions of fit, knowledge, adverse action and causation. Roadmap 021 addresses the Labor Code route; Worksheet 107 records the report; and Roadmap 092 explains what the licensing boards themselves do with a report.

"I filed a discrimination charge, and I was disciplined after the employer was notified." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 019 (ADA/FEHA Retaliation); 023 (Retaliation After Reporting to a Licensing Board, Government Agency, EEOC, CRD or Other Regulator); 034 (EEOC Charge Roadmap); and 035 (California Civil Rights Department Roadmap). Roadmap 019 explains retaliation for participation in an ADA or FEHA proceeding. Roadmap 023 places the agency filing among other external reports. Roadmaps 034 and 035 explain the EEOC and Civil Rights Department processes in which the original charge sits, including the notices those agencies send to the employer.

"I raised a workplace-safety hazard — violence on the unit, missing protective equipment — and was punished for it." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 128 (Cal/OSHA Complaint Toolkit: Workplace-Safety Complaints, Complainant Confidentiality, § 6310 Retaliation Through the Labor Commissioner, and a Bracketed Model); 126 (Labor Commissioner Wage Claim Toolkit: Berman Hearings, Record-Access Penalties, Retaliation Complaints and a Bracketed Model Claim); 021 (California Labor Code §1102.5 Whistleblower Claims); and 020 (Retaliation for Complaints About Patient Care or Workplace Conduct). Toolkit 128 explains the Cal/OSHA complaint route, the confidentiality of a complainant's name, and the separate safety-retaliation complaint that is filed with the Labor Commissioner. Toolkit 126 explains the Labor Commissioner's retaliation intake. Roadmaps 021 and 020 address the related whistleblower and retaliation frameworks that may apply to the same facts.

"I refused to do something I believed was against the law." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 021 (California Labor Code §1102.5 Whistleblower Claims); 011 (Wrongful Termination in Violation of Public Policy); and 031 (Professional Judgment Versus Corporate or Administrative Direction). Roadmap 021 explains that § 1102.5 can protect a refusal to participate in activity that would violate law, as distinct from a disclosure. Roadmap 011 explains the public-policy discharge claim and its requirement of a constitutional or statutory policy. Roadmap 031 addresses the clinical-versus-administrative line where the refused direction concerned patient care.

"My employer says it would have made the same decision even if I had never reported anything." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 139 (Legitimate Reason, Pretext and Same-Decision Defenses in Employment Cases); 021 (California Labor Code §1102.5 Whistleblower Claims); and 019 (ADA/FEHA Retaliation). Playbook 139 explains the same-decision defense and how its effect differs between California's FEHA and the Labor Code's whistleblower statute. Roadmap 021 explains the heightened second-stage burden in the § 1102.5 framework, and Roadmap 019 explains the causation standards in disability retaliation.

Leave#

This family covers job-protected leave — federal FMLA leave, California CFRA leave, pregnancy disability leave and California's other protected leaves — and the wage-replacement programs that pay a worker during time away but do not, by themselves, protect a job. The Roadmaps in this family stress that the leave laws are not one bank of weeks, that they differ in coverage, eligibility, family definitions and enforcement, and that a separate ledger for each legal source is the practical starting point.

"I took medical leave, and my position was gone when I came back." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 024 (FMLA and CFRA Medical Leave Claims); 025 (Pregnancy, Family and Other Protected Leave); 019 (ADA/FEHA Retaliation); and 105 (Accommodation Requests, Medical Restrictions, Interactive-Process Communications and Return-to-Work Worksheet). Roadmap 024 explains the FMLA and CFRA, how they overlap and diverge, and the separate rights they protect: leave, maintenance of coverage, reinstatement, freedom from interference and freedom from retaliation. Roadmap 025 addresses the California leaves that sit beside them. Roadmap 019 and Worksheet 105 address the disability-related questions that often travel with a medical leave.

"My pregnancy-related leave was counted against me." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 025 (Pregnancy, Family and Other Protected Leave); 024 (FMLA and CFRA Medical Leave Claims); and 013 (FEHA Disability Discrimination). Roadmap 025 explains pregnancy disability leave under Government Code § 12945 and its relationship to CFRA bonding leave, which may make the combined protected period something other than a single cap. Roadmap 024 explains the federal and California medical-leave statutes, and Roadmap 013 addresses the related FEHA questions.

"My employer told me my leave 'used up everything,' and my employment ended." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 025 (Pregnancy, Family and Other Protected Leave); 024 (FMLA and CFRA Medical Leave Claims); and 015 (Failure to Engage in the Interactive Process). Roadmap 025 explains why California's leave rights should not be treated as one undifferentiated absence and how a leave ledger separates them. Roadmap 024 addresses the medical-leave statutes, and Roadmap 015 explains that California regulation addresses the interactive process when protected leave has been exhausted but further leave or another accommodation may still be needed.

"I am receiving State Disability Insurance or Paid Family Leave, and I do not know whether my job is protected." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 027.2 (State Disability Insurance, Paid Family Leave and Unemployment Insurance); 024 (FMLA and CFRA Medical Leave Claims); 025 (Pregnancy, Family and Other Protected Leave); and 126.1 (EDD Pathway Toolkit: Unemployment and Disability Insurance Claims, Appeals to the CUIAB, Wage-Credit Discrepancies and What EDD Cannot Decide). Roadmap 027.2 explains that EDD's programs pay money but do not, by themselves, protect a job, and that job protection comes from the leave laws in Roadmaps 024 and 025. Toolkit 126.1 explains the EDD pathway, including what EDD cannot decide.

"My unemployment claim was denied because my former employer told EDD I was fired for misconduct." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 126.1 (EDD Pathway Toolkit: Unemployment and Disability Insurance Claims, Appeals to the CUIAB, Wage-Credit Discrepancies and What EDD Cannot Decide); 027.2 (State Disability Insurance, Paid Family Leave and Unemployment Insurance); 036 (How to Analyze an Employer Position Statement and Prepare a Rebuttal); and 094 (Who Was the Employer? Hiring Notices, Wage Statements, EDD and Agency Records as Evidence of Employer Identity). Toolkit 126.1 explains EDD determinations, appeals to the appeals board and the limited effect of EDD findings elsewhere. Roadmap 027.2 explains the confidentiality of EDD information and the statutory rule on the use of unemployment-appeal findings in later proceedings. Roadmap 036 explains why a reason given to one agency may later be compared with reasons given elsewhere, and Roadmap 094 explains EDD wage records as evidence of employer identity.

"I needed time away after a death in the family, a reproductive loss, or an act of violence." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 025 (Pregnancy, Family and Other Protected Leave) and 024 (FMLA and CFRA Medical Leave Claims). Roadmap 025 describes California's bereavement, reproductive-loss and violence-related leave and workplace protections, each with its own threshold, length and enforcement, and Roadmap 024 addresses their interaction with medical leave.

Pay, benefits and contracts#

This family covers unpaid wages and promised compensation, the representative penalty action under PAGA, retirement and plan benefits governed or not governed by ERISA, continuation of health coverage after employment ends, employment contracts and promises, and arbitration agreements. The Roadmaps in this family stress that not every promised dollar is an earned wage, that whether a federal benefits statute governs must never be assumed in either direction, and that a signed and forgotten document often decides the question. Where any paying or employing entity may have been a Wellpath debtor, the bankruptcy family below applies as well.

"My final paycheck was late, or it was missing money." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 026 (Wage Claims: Unpaid Compensation, Bonuses and Promised Increases); 126 (Labor Commissioner Wage Claim Toolkit: Berman Hearings, Record-Access Penalties, Retaliation Complaints and a Bracketed Model Claim); 033 (Employee Personnel Files: What to Request and Why); and 104 (Personnel, Payroll, Benefits and Signed-Document Records Request Worksheet (W-033)). Roadmap 026 explains the Labor Code's definition of wages, when compensation is earned, the timing rules for regular and final wages, and the penalty questions that may follow. Toolkit 126 explains the Labor Commissioner wage claim and hearing. Roadmap 033 and Worksheet 104 explain and track the statutory requests for payroll records and wage statements.

"A bonus or incentive I was promised was treated as forfeited when I left." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 026 (Wage Claims: Unpaid Compensation, Bonuses and Promised Increases); 028 (Employment Contracts, Offer Letters, Policies and Oral Promises); and 126 (Labor Commissioner Wage Claim Toolkit: Berman Hearings, Record-Access Penalties, Retaliation Complaints and a Bracketed Model Claim). Roadmap 026 explains that incentive pay is generally earned only when the agreed conditions are satisfied, so that the plan's terms decide whether an amount ever became a wage. Roadmap 028 addresses the contract questions a promise raises, and Toolkit 126 notes the cases in which the status of a payment as "wages" is uncertain.

"Many coworkers were underpaid in the same way I was." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 026.1 (California's Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA)); 026 (Wage Claims: Unpaid Compensation, Bonuses and Promised Increases); and 029 (Arbitration Agreements and Whether Employment Claims Must Be Arbitrated). Roadmap 026.1 explains California's Private Attorneys General Act, in which an aggrieved employee acts as a proxy of the State for civil penalties, the 2024 amendments, the pre-filing notice to the state labor agency, and the role of arbitration agreements. Roadmap 026 addresses the individual wage claims, and Roadmap 029 addresses arbitration.

"My claim for a retirement-plan or disability-plan benefit was denied in writing." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 027 (Deferred Compensation, Retirement Benefits and ERISA Issues); 135 (Exhaustion and Claim-Presentation Defenses: PLRA, Government Claims Act, § 364, Charge Scope and Plan Appeals); and 130.1 (Federal District Court Pleading Models — ADA Employment Complaints After Exhaustion, FMLA Counts, ERISA Counts Where Genuinely Applicable, and Mixed Federal/State Complaints Under Supplemental Jurisdiction). Roadmap 027 addresses whether ERISA governs, applicable plan claims and review processes, the distinction between claims for benefits and equitable relief, available forums and potential preemption. Under 29 U.S.C. §1132(e)(1), actions under §1132(a)(1)(B) have concurrent state and federal jurisdiction; many other ERISA civil actions have exclusive federal jurisdiction. A non-ERISA deferred-compensation or benefits dispute still requires its own wage, contract, tax and jurisdictional analysis rather than automatic classification. Playbook 135 explains plan-appeal exhaustion as a defense, and Model 130.1 shows the anatomy of an ERISA count where ERISA genuinely applies.

"My health coverage ended when my job ended, and I never received an election notice." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 027.1 (Benefits Continuation: COBRA and Cal-COBRA); 027 (Deferred Compensation, Retirement Benefits and ERISA Issues); and 033 (Employee Personnel Files: What to Request and Why). Roadmap 027.1 explains federal COBRA and California's Cal-COBRA continuation rights, the notices each side must send and the election and premium mechanics. Roadmap 027 examines the ERISA and non-ERISA distinctions that may affect continuation coverage, and Roadmap 033 explains the records requests that may show which entity sponsored the plan.

"My offer letter promised a raise, and the raise never happened." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 028 (Employment Contracts, Offer Letters, Policies and Oral Promises); 026 (Wage Claims: Unpaid Compensation, Bonuses and Promised Increases); and 033 (Employee Personnel Files: What to Request and Why). Roadmap 028 explains written, implied and oral promises, integration and at-will clauses, and why the request for copies of signed documents is the first act of any contract analysis. Roadmap 026 addresses the point at which a promised increase may become a wage, and Roadmap 033 explains the signed-document request.

"I signed an arbitration agreement when I was hired — or I cannot remember whether I did." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 029 (Arbitration Agreements and Whether Employment Claims Must Be Arbitrated); 033 (Employee Personnel Files: What to Request and Why); and 143 (Evidentiary, Privilege and Procedural Defenses: Expert Gatekeeping, § 1157, Arbitration, Discovery Sanctions and Dispositive Motions). Roadmap 029 explains the sequence of questions an arbitration clause creates — formation, the entity that agreed, coverage, delegation, unconscionability, severance, nonsignatories, PAGA and agency charges — and why the first question is often whether an agreement exists at all. Roadmap 033 explains how to obtain copies of signed instruments, and Playbook 143 sets out the motion to compel arbitration as the employer side presents it.

Professional independence#

This family covers the legal line between clinical judgment and corporate or administrative direction: California's bar on the corporate practice of medicine and the 2025 statute addressing private-equity and hedge-fund involvement in physician and dental practices; the reservation of clinical judgments to licensed professionals in local detention facilities; and the separate legal systems of employment, credentialing, privileges, peer review and licensing. The Roadmaps in this family caution that a corporate-practice concern is not, by itself, a private lawsuit, and that branding or a shared administrative system is not proof that anyone controlled medical decisions.

"An administrator who is not a clinician tells us which patients may be referred out." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 031 (Professional Judgment Versus Corporate or Administrative Direction); 030 (Physician Independence and California Corporate-Practice-of-Medicine Issues); 108 (Clinical-Decision Interference and Patient-Safety Reports Worksheet); and 022 (Physician and Clinician Patient-Safety Whistleblowing). Roadmap 031 explains how to classify each direction as clinical, administrative or mixed, and notes that California's jail minimum standards reserve clinical judgments to the responsible health-care professionals while applying security rules to health staff. Roadmap 030 explains the corporate-practice doctrine and its line of control. Worksheet 108 records each instance of interference without patient identifiers, and Roadmap 022 addresses the protections that may attach if a clinician reports it.

"A management company or an investor-backed group decides staffing, coding and patient volume at the practice where I work." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 030 (Physician Independence and California Corporate-Practice-of-Medicine Issues); 031 (Professional Judgment Versus Corporate or Administrative Direction); 093 (The California Attorney General: Licensing Prosecutions, Supervision of Sheriffs, Custody-Death Reports and Health-Care Enforcement); and 108 (Clinical-Decision Interference and Patient-Safety Reports Worksheet). Roadmap 030 explains the line between permitted management of non-medical functions and control of a physician's professional judgment, and the 2025 statute's list of clinical decisions such groups may not interfere with. Roadmap 031 addresses individual directions; Roadmap 093 explains the Attorney General's enforcement role under the 2025 statute; and Worksheet 108 records the facts.

"I am being asked to sign a non-compete or non-disparagement agreement connected to a management relationship." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 030 (Physician Independence and California Corporate-Practice-of-Medicine Issues) and 028 (Employment Contracts, Offer Letters, Policies and Oral Promises). Roadmap 030 explains the 2025 statute's treatment of certain clauses in management contracts with private-equity groups and hedge funds, and Roadmap 028 explains the contract questions that surround any signed employment document.

"I received notice of a proposed peer-review action, or my privileges were restricted." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 032 (Credentialing, Privileges, Peer Review and Employment: Why They Are Different); 085 (Peer Review, Quality Assurance and Other Protections from Discovery); and 092 (Medical Board of California and Osteopathic Medical Board of California: Complaints, Investigations and Public Records). Roadmap 032 explains that employment, credentialing, privileges, peer review and licensing are separate systems with separate decisionmakers, procedures and records, and that California gives licentiates facing certain peer-review actions a right to notice and a hearing. Roadmap 085 explains the discovery protections that surround peer-review records, and Roadmap 092 explains the reports that may follow to a licensing board.

"I have been told a report about me will be filed with the Medical Board." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 092 (Medical Board of California and Osteopathic Medical Board of California: Complaints, Investigations and Public Records); 032 (Credentialing, Privileges, Peer Review and Employment: Why They Are Different); and 023 (Retaliation After Reporting to a Licensing Board, Government Agency, EEOC, CRD or Other Regulator). Roadmap 092 explains how the Medical Board and the Osteopathic Medical Board receive complaints and mandatory reports, investigate and act against a license, and what they publish. Roadmap 032 explains the peer-review reporting that may precede a board report, and Roadmap 023 addresses retaliation questions where a threatened report follows protected activity.

"A custody-health directive conflicts with my clinical judgment about a patient." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 031 (Professional Judgment Versus Corporate or Administrative Direction); 022 (Physician and Clinician Patient-Safety Whistleblowing); 108 (Clinical-Decision Interference and Patient-Safety Reports Worksheet); and 088 (Standards and Accreditation as Evidence: Title 15, NCCHC, ACA and Contract Standards). Roadmap 031 explains the clinical-versus-security allocation in local detention facilities. Roadmap 022 addresses the protections that may attach to patient-safety advocacy. Worksheet 108 records the event, and Roadmap 088 explains how Title 15 and accreditation standards are treated as evidence.

Agency process and case building#

This family covers the administrative processes that precede employment discrimination lawsuits, the employer's position statement, and the methods the series uses to organize facts before counsel is consulted: identifying the decisionmaker, building a chronology, preserving evidence, assembling an evidence matrix and preparing an attorney-ready file. These pages do not decide anything about a reader's facts; they explain how the facts are gathered and organized so that counsel can decide.

"I want to file a discrimination charge, but I do not know which agency handles it." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 034 (EEOC Charge Roadmap); 035 (California Civil Rights Department Roadmap); 125 (EEOC Charge Toolkit: Jurisdiction, Eligibility, Chronology, Evidence Index and a Bracketed Model Charge); 125.1 (California Civil Rights Department Complaint Toolkit: FEHA and CFRA Complaints, Right-to-Sue Notices and a Bracketed Model); and 096.1 (The Master Action-Forum Matrix: Every Forum, What It Decides, Who May Use It, and What It Cannot Do). Roadmap 034 explains the EEOC process from charge to notice of right to sue, including dual filing with California's agency. Roadmap 035 explains the Civil Rights Department process and the ways it differs from the federal one. Toolkits 125 and 125.1 show the anatomy of each filing as an educational model, and Roadmap 096.1 places both agencies in the matrix of every forum.

"The agency sent me my employer's position statement." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 036 (How to Analyze an Employer Position Statement and Prepare a Rebuttal); 034 (EEOC Charge Roadmap); 035 (California Civil Rights Department Roadmap); and 106 (Adverse Actions and Comparator Evidence Worksheet). Roadmap 036 explains what a position statement is, how it is obtained at each agency, how to compare it with other records, and how a documented rebuttal is prepared. Roadmaps 034 and 035 explain where the statement sits in each agency process, and Worksheet 106 records the adverse actions and reasons the statement addresses.

"I received a notice of right to sue." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 034 (EEOC Charge Roadmap); 035 (California Civil Rights Department Roadmap); 008 (Statutes of Limitation, Administrative Deadlines and the Danger of Waiting); and 009 (Finding Counsel and Preparing an Attorney-Ready Case File). Roadmaps 034 and 035 explain what the federal and California notices are and the statutory sources that govern the period that follows each; Roadmap 008 explains the parts of every deadline; and Roadmap 009 explains how to find counsel. The Navigator states no period.

"I have boxes of documents and no way to put them in order." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 006 (Building the Master Chronology Before Filing Anything); 100 (Chronology Worksheet); 113 (Agency Correspondence and Exhibit Index Worksheet); 039 (Employment Case Evidence Matrix); and 009.1 (The Attorney-Ready Case File: A Standardized Fifteen-Part Case-Review Package). Roadmap 006 explains how to build a chronology that records facts rather than conclusions, each entry tied to the document that shows it. Worksheet 100 is the chronology itself, Worksheet 113 numbers every document once and logs every agency communication, Roadmap 039 organizes the evidence by claim, and Roadmap 009.1 specifies the fifteen-part case-review package a lawyer can scan.

"I do not know who actually made the decision." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 005 (Identifying the Actual Decisionmaker); 102 (Decisionmakers Worksheet); and 103 (Witnesses Worksheet). Roadmap 005 breaks a decision into stages and explains why titles and copied emails prove less than they seem to. Worksheet 102 records who decided, recommended and approved each action and what each knew; Worksheet 103 records each witness and what they can speak to, without characterizing what they will say.

"I am worried that messages, video or records will be deleted." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 007 (Evidence Preservation and Litigation Holds); 114 (Preservation and Records-Distinction Worksheet); and 132 (Preservation Demand and Statutory Records-Request Letter Models: Personnel File, Payroll Records, Signed Documents, Own Medical Records, and a Litigation-Hold Demand). Roadmap 007 explains preservation and the boundary between keeping one's own records and removing records one has no right to take. Worksheet 114 applies the six-way records distinction to every category of record and logs preservation demands, and Model 132 shows the anatomy of a litigation-hold letter as an educational model.

Correctional health care — constitutional claims#

This family covers the constitutional framework for medical care in jails, prisons and juvenile facilities: whether the patient was a pretrial detainee or a convicted prisoner; the Fourteenth and Eighth Amendment standards; the difference between negligence and deliberate indifference; the liability of individual clinicians and of private correctional health-care companies; policy, custom and failure-to-train theories; and the documents from earlier litigation that are often offered to prove them. The entry page is Roadmap 040. The Roadmaps in this family repeatedly note that custody status changes the constitutional standard and that a constitutional claim requires more than negligence.

"I do not know whether my family member was awaiting trial or serving a sentence when this happened." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 041 (Was the Patient a Pretrial Detainee or a Convicted Prisoner?); 042 (Fourteenth Amendment Medical-Care Claims for Pretrial Detainees); 043 (Eighth Amendment Medical-Care Claims for Convicted Prisoners); and 040 (Correctional Healthcare Claims: Start Here). Roadmap 041 explains why custody status decides which constitutional provision applies and how hard the claim is to prove; in the Ninth Circuit the standard for detainees is objective and the standard for sentenced prisoners is subjective. Roadmaps 042 and 043 explain each standard, and Roadmap 040 sorts the correctional questions in the order they usually arise.

"I was held before trial, and my requests for medical care went unanswered." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 042 (Fourteenth Amendment Medical-Care Claims for Pretrial Detainees); 040 (Correctional Healthcare Claims: Start Here); 044 (Negligence Is Not the Same as Constitutional Deliberate Indifference); 080 (PLRA Exhaustion and Jail Grievance Systems); and 115 (Sick-Call, Symptom and Clinical-Encounter Log Worksheet). Roadmap 042 explains the Fourteenth Amendment standard for pretrial detainees. Roadmap 044 explains why negligence alone is not enough for a constitutional claim. Roadmap 080 explains the federal exhaustion requirement and jail grievance systems, and Worksheet 115 records symptoms, requests and encounters so that each can be matched against the others.

"I am serving a sentence, and the prison clinicians refused the treatment an outside specialist recommended." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 043 (Eighth Amendment Medical-Care Claims for Convicted Prisoners); 052 (Delayed or Denied Treatment, and Cost-Influenced Care Decisions); and 141 (Constitutional Medical-Care Defenses: No Deliberate Indifference, Medical Judgment, Difference of Opinion and Qualified Immunity). Roadmap 043 explains the Eighth Amendment's deliberate-indifference standard and the rule that a difference of medical opinion is not enough. Roadmap 052 explains the line between a reasonable clinical disagreement and a categorical denial based on an administrative policy. Playbook 141 sets out the medical-judgment and difference-of-opinion arguments the defense side is likely to make.

"The care was poor, but I do not know whether 'poor' is the same thing as unconstitutional." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 044 (Negligence Is Not the Same as Constitutional Deliberate Indifference); 066 (Professional Negligence in Correctional Settings: The Standard of Care, MICRA, § 364 and § 340.5); and 141 (Constitutional Medical-Care Defenses: No Deliberate Indifference, Medical Judgment, Difference of Opinion and Qualified Immunity). Roadmap 044 explains that many poor outcomes in custody are negligence questions rather than constitutional ones, and that the two have different rules, defendants, prerequisites and clocks. Roadmap 066 explains professional negligence, and Playbook 141 explains how the defense side draws the same line.

"A nurse employed by a private company, not by the county, made the decision." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 045 (Individual Clinician Liability Under 42 U.S.C. §1983); 046 (When a Private Correctional Healthcare Company Can Be Liable Under §1983); 077 (Qualified Immunity, Private-Contractor Employees and Other Individual Defenses); and 141 (Constitutional Medical-Care Defenses: No Deliberate Indifference, Medical Judgment, Difference of Opinion and Qualified Immunity). Roadmap 045 explains that an individual clinician answers under § 1983 for his or her own conduct and that clinicians employed by private companies under a government contract act under color of state law. Roadmap 046 explains when a private correctional health-care company itself may be liable under § 1983. Roadmap 077 explains qualified immunity and the different position of private-contractor employees, and Playbook 141 sets out the individual defenses.

"The same thing seems to have happened to many people at the same jail." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 047 (Monell Liability Against Private Correctional Healthcare Contractors); 048 (Policy, Custom, Practice and Failure-to-Train Claims); 049 (Identifying a Corporate Policy or Custom From Records and Repeated Events); 050 (Staffing Models and Whether Staffing Evidence Can Support a Claim); 110 (Staffing, Policies and Training Worksheet); and 142 (Monell and Corporate-Liability Defenses: No Policy or Custom, No Moving Force, Single Incident and Respondeat Superior). Roadmap 047 explains Monell liability for counties and private correctional health-care contractors and its main routes. Roadmap 048 explains policy, custom, practice and failure to train; Roadmap 049 explains how records of repeated events are gathered to test whether a custom existed; and Roadmap 050 explains staffing evidence and how it cuts both ways. Worksheet 110 records staffing, policy and training facts from public or lawfully possessed sources, and Playbook 142 sets out the no-policy, single-incident and moving-force arguments.

"There was a settlement, a consent decree or a monitor's report about this jail." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 048.1 (Settlements, Consent Decrees and Monitor Reports as Evidence: Docket-Level Reading and Admissibility); 049 (Identifying a Corporate Policy or Custom From Records and Repeated Events); and 087 (Public Records of Correctional Health Contracts and Oversight). Roadmap 048.1 explains that a settlement is not a finding, that a consent decree is an order that usually recites no admission, that a monitor's report is a public court record whose admissibility depends on the rule applied, and that a findings letter is an agency's position; it also explains the narrower use of such documents to show notice. Roadmap 049 explains how notice fits into proving a custom, and Roadmap 087 explains how such records are obtained.

"The person held was a minor in a juvenile hall or camp." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 040.1 (Juveniles in Custody: Juvenile-Facility Health Care, Parental and Guardian Access to Minor Records, and Confidentiality); 041 (Was the Patient a Pretrial Detainee or a Convicted Prisoner?); and 083 (Custody Medical Records: Access, Authorizations, Audit Trails and the CMIA). Roadmap 040.1 explains the juvenile minimum standards, consent to a minor's care, the separate regimes for a minor's health record and the confidential juvenile case file, and the rule that a minor appears in court through a guardian or guardian ad litem. Roadmap 041 addresses custody status, and Roadmap 083 addresses adult custody medical records.

Correctional health care — clinical situations#

This family covers the clinical situations in which custody medical-care questions most often arise: delayed diagnosis; delayed or denied treatment; referrals and off-site care; transfers and hospital returns; intake screening; medications; chronic disease; serious and progressive illness; emergency response; alcohol, sedative and opioid withdrawal; mental health and suicide prevention; pregnancy; disability; dental care; infectious disease; restraint and isolation; and refusal and consent. Each Roadmap in this family applies the constitutional framework of the previous family and the negligence framework of the professional-negligence family to a particular clinical setting, and identifies the records that decide it. Where a person is still in custody and needs care now, each of these Roadmaps describes the facility's own request and emergency channels.

"I reported symptoms at sick call for days and was told it was nothing, until I collapsed." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 051 (Delayed Diagnosis in Custody); 059 (Emergency Response, Sick Call and Man-Down Calls); 115 (Sick-Call, Symptom and Clinical-Encounter Log Worksheet); and 075 (Causation in Correctional Medical Cases). The historical source-A original of Roadmap 051 addresses delayed diagnosis, possible negligence and constitutional theories, and evidentiary labels; its previously revised 71,870-byte candidate has not been recovered or compared. This is a held pointer, not confirmation that the intended destination contains a verified current analysis. Roadmap 059 explains sick call, emergency response and man-down calls, and the preservation of logs, intercom records and video. Worksheet 115 separates the streams of symptoms, requests and encounters, and Roadmap 075 explains the causation question of what an earlier diagnosis would have changed.

"A specialist recommended surgery or a biopsy, and the jail's reviewer deferred it — or the appointment was never scheduled." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 052 (Delayed or Denied Treatment, and Cost-Influenced Care Decisions); 053 (Referrals to Outside Specialists and Off-Site Care); 058 (Serious and Progressive Illness: Cancer, Organ Failure and End-of-Life Care in Custody); and 116 (Referral, Off-Site Care and Transfer Tracking Worksheet). Roadmap 052 explains utilization review and prior authorization, how cost evidence may and may not be used, and the line between a medically acceptable choice and a categorical denial. Roadmap 053 walks the referral pathway stage by stage — order, approval, scheduling, transport, the specialist's findings and the response to them. Roadmap 058 addresses cancer, organ failure and end-of-life care, and Worksheet 116 follows each referral from order to outcome.

"My family member was sent to a hospital and returned to the jail, and the discharge instructions were never carried out." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 054 (Transfers, Hospital Returns and Continuity of Care Between Facilities); 053 (Referrals to Outside Specialists and Off-Site Care); 116 (Referral, Off-Site Care and Transfer Tracking Worksheet); and 117 (Medication Continuity and Administration Worksheet). Roadmap 054 explains each handoff — information, orders and medications — between jail, hospital, other facilities, state prison and release, and the California provisions that address transfer of health information. Roadmap 053 addresses the follow-up referrals, Worksheet 116 tracks each transfer from departure to return, and Worksheet 117 tracks the medications that should have crossed with the patient.

"At booking, I told staff I was withdrawing from alcohol, or that I take methadone or buprenorphine." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 055 (Intake Screening and Booking Medical Clearance); 060 (Alcohol and Benzodiazepine Withdrawal in Custody); 061 (Opioid Withdrawal and Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Custody); and 117 (Medication Continuity and Administration Worksheet). Roadmap 055 explains booking medical clearance and the receiving screening, including the role of the arresting agency. Roadmap 060 explains alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal, the Title 15 detoxification requirements and the records of withdrawal scoring and observation. Roadmap 061 explains opioid withdrawal and medications for opioid use disorder, including the federal disability-law questions and California's immunity for failing to prescribe for addiction. Worksheet 117 records the screening, the protocol and the doses.

"My medication for epilepsy, diabetes, HIV or a mental illness was stopped or switched — and the chart says I refused it." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 056 (Medications in Custody: Continuity, Formulary Substitution and Administration Records); 057 (Chronic Disease Management in Custody); 072 (Refusal of Care, Informed Consent, Involuntary Medication and Hunger Strikes); and 117 (Medication Continuity and Administration Worksheet). Roadmap 056 explains medication continuity, formulary substitution and the medication administration record, and the task of separating a clinical decision from a gap. Roadmap 057 explains chronic disease management as a longitudinal record. Roadmap 072 explains that a recorded refusal is evidence of a signature, and that whether it was an informed refusal by a person with capacity is a separate question. Worksheet 117 records the medication course dose by dose.

"My family member is in psychiatric crisis, has been held in a safety cell, or has spoken of suicide." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 062 (Mental-Health Care in Custody); 063 (Suicide Prevention, Risk Assessment and Observation); 071 (Restraint, Segregation, Use of Force and Medical Monitoring); and 118 (Mental-Health, Suicide-Risk, Observation and Restraint Records Worksheet). Roadmap 062 explains mental-health care in custody, Title 15's crisis-evaluation and safety-cell provisions, and California's immunities written for mental illness. Roadmap 063 explains suicide prevention, risk assessment and observation, and the moments on which litigation after a death so often turns. Roadmap 071 explains restraint, segregation and the medical clock Title 15 sets for them. Worksheet 118 records what the health record and the custody record each show.

"I am pregnant in jail, or I have a disability and the jail has not accommodated it." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 067 (Pregnancy, Labor and Postpartum Care in Custody); 068 (Disability in Custody: ADA Title II, Section 504 and Accommodations); and 124 (Disability, Pregnancy and Accommodation-in-Custody Worksheet). Roadmap 067 explains California's detailed Penal Code provisions on pregnancy, labor and postpartum care in jails, restraints during pregnancy, and the related constitutional framework. Roadmap 068 explains ADA Title II and Section 504 in custody, and the line between discrimination because of disability and inadequate treatment for disability. Worksheet 124 records each condition, request and response.

"I have had an untreated dental infection for weeks — or a contagious illness is spreading through my housing unit." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 069 (Dental Care in Custody); 070 (Infectious Disease, Outbreaks and Communicable-Disease Control in Custody); and 124 (Disability, Pregnancy and Accommodation-in-Custody Worksheet). Roadmap 069 explains dental care in custody, Title 15's dental-care requirement, and why a dentist's choice between acceptable treatments differs from prolonged inaction or a policy-driven refusal. Roadmap 070 explains communicable-disease control in custody, the public-health duties of the jail and the county health officer, and the immunities that accompany them. Worksheet 124 records the condition and each request.

Death in custody, wrongful death and survival#

This family covers what happens after a death: the official processes that begin at once — notice to the family, the coroner's inquiry, reports to the Attorney General and the Board of State and Community Corrections, the facility's own death review, public posting and public records — and the separate legal actions that California and federal law recognize, which belong to different people. The Roadmaps in this family stress that the reporting processes are not adjudications and do not toll or extend any claim period, and that a claim presented by one person does not necessarily preserve the claim of another.

"My family member died in custody, and the jail has not released records." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 064 (Death in Custody: Investigations, Mortality Reviews and Public Reporting); 083 (Custody Medical Records: Access, Authorizations, Audit Trails and the CMIA); 087 (Public Records of Correctional Health Contracts and Oversight); and 111 (Death in Custody Worksheet). Roadmap 064 explains the investigations, reviews and public reports a death in a California jail sets in motion, and which of their records are public, protected or delayed. Roadmap 083 explains the personal representative's or successor's access to the decedent's own health records. Roadmap 087 explains public-records requests for the county's records, and Worksheet 111 records the facts and public records about the death, without any conclusion about cause or fault.

"We were told there will be an autopsy, and we do not know what the coroner does." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 064 (Death in Custody: Investigations, Mortality Reviews and Public Reporting); 075 (Causation in Correctional Medical Cases); and 111 (Death in Custody Worksheet). Roadmap 064 explains the coroner's statutory inquiry into the circumstances, manner and cause of death. Roadmap 075 explains why causation evidence — tissue, specimens, device memory and video — is perishable and how experts use it, and Worksheet 111 records what was received and when.

"There are several relatives — a spouse, children, parents — and no one knows who may act for the family or for the estate." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 065 (Wrongful Death and Survival Actions in Custody Medical Cases); 122 (Heirs, Successors and Family Records Worksheet); and 111 (Death in Custody Worksheet). Roadmap 065 explains that California recognizes two different actions after a death — the heirs' wrongful-death action and the decedent's own survival action, brought by the personal representative or successor in interest — and the federal layers that sit beside them. Worksheet 122 records relationships and documents so that counsel can answer the probate questions, and Worksheet 111 records the death itself.

"My family member died in a hospital after being transferred from the jail." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 065 (Wrongful Death and Survival Actions in Custody Medical Cases); 054 (Transfers, Hospital Returns and Continuity of Care Between Facilities); 064 (Death in Custody: Investigations, Mortality Reviews and Public Reporting); and 075 (Causation in Correctional Medical Cases). Roadmap 065 addresses deaths in custody or shortly after a hospital transfer or release. Roadmap 054 explains the handoff between jail and hospital; Roadmap 064 explains which reporting rules apply; and Roadmap 075 explains how the causal chain across two institutions is examined.

"Before the death, my family member had been seriously ill in custody for months." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 058 (Serious and Progressive Illness: Cancer, Organ Failure and End-of-Life Care in Custody); 065 (Wrongful Death and Survival Actions in Custody Medical Cases); and 076 (Damages in Custody Medical Cases). Roadmap 058 explains serious and progressive illness and end-of-life care in custody, including advance directives, resuscitation decisions and compassionate release and medical parole as a separate statutory track. Roadmap 065 explains how claims change form at death, and Roadmap 076 explains how the categories of recovery differ by source of law.

"We learned that a mortality review or a root-cause analysis was done." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 073 (Quality Assurance, Corrective Action Plans and Internal Review in Correctional Health); 085 (Peer Review, Quality Assurance and Other Protections from Discovery); and 064 (Death in Custody: Investigations, Mortality Reviews and Public Reporting). Roadmap 073 explains the quality-assurance and corrective-action records that correctional health care generates, and the three different things such a record may be offered to show. Roadmap 085 explains peer-review and related protections from discovery, which differ by forum. Roadmap 064 explains the facility's required death review and the public-records statute for investigations of deaths in local detention facilities.

"Someone has asked the family to sign a release or give a statement about the death." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 065 (Wrongful Death and Survival Actions in Custody Medical Cases); 009 (Finding Counsel and Preparing an Attorney-Ready Case File); and 091 (Stay, Discharge, Plan Injunctions and Third-Party Releases: How Bankruptcy Rules Apply to Claims Involving Wellpath Entities). Roadmap 065 lists this among the circumstances in which it says to get a lawyer now. Roadmap 009 explains how to find counsel, and Roadmap 091 explains releases in the bankruptcy setting where any Wellpath entity is involved.

Professional negligence#

This family covers medical malpractice in a correctional setting — what California statutes call professional negligence — and the expert, causation and damages pages that serve it. The source-A manuscripts differentiate state professional-negligence theories from distinct federal constitutional medical-care standards; the applicable standard depends on custody status, the actor, the conduct and the claim. Professional negligence does not itself require proof of deliberate indifference, but negligence and constitutional theories may be pleaded or tested separately where legally supported. Expert proof, notice, damages and immunities depend on the specific claim, forum and governing law. The clinician's actual public, private-contractor or independent status also needs documentary proof. No numerical claim about which theory covers “most” injuries has been validated.

"The clinician missed something a careful clinician would have caught, but I do not think anyone meant to cause harm." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 066 (Professional Negligence in Correctional Settings: The Standard of Care, MICRA, § 364 and § 340.5); 044 (Negligence Is Not the Same as Constitutional Deliberate Indifference); and 074 (Expert Witnesses and the Standard of Care in Correctional Medicine). Roadmap 066 explains professional negligence in correctional settings, the professional standard of care, the MICRA statutes and the Government Claims Act overlay for public entities and public employees. Roadmap 044 explains why the same facts may or may not also raise a constitutional question, and Roadmap 074 explains how the standard of care is proved through experts.

"A lawyer told me nothing can be evaluated until an expert reviews the chart." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 074 (Expert Witnesses and the Standard of Care in Correctional Medicine); 119 (Clinical-Course and Causation Timeline Worksheet); and 066 (Professional Negligence in Correctional Settings: The Standard of Care, MICRA, § 364 and § 340.5). Roadmap 074 explains expert qualification, gatekeeping and disclosure in state and federal court, and the distinctive questions correctional cases add — whether there is a separate correctional standard, and what role standards and contracts play. Worksheet 119 builds the single timestamped sequence an expert needs, with a column for the questions to be put to the expert and no column for conclusions.

"I do not know whether the clinician worked for the county, for a private company, or for himself." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 066 (Professional Negligence in Correctional Settings: The Standard of Care, MICRA, § 364 and § 340.5); 077 (Qualified Immunity, Private-Contractor Employees and Other Individual Defenses); 078 (The Government Claims Act in Custody Medical Cases); 003 (Who Is the Correct Defendant? CFMG, Wellpath, County, Clinician, Supervisor, or Another Entity?); and 101 (Entity Identity Worksheet). Roadmap 066 explains why that question must be answered from records in every case. Roadmap 077 explains how the employer of an individual defendant changes the defenses available. Roadmap 078 explains how the Government Claims Act sorts defendants into public and private groups with different pre-suit rules. Roadmap 003 gives the method for identifying the responsible person or organization, and Worksheet 101 records each one separately.

"I want to know what difference earlier care would actually have made." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 075 (Causation in Correctional Medical Cases); 119 (Clinical-Course and Causation Timeline Worksheet); and 138 (Causation, Damages and Mitigation Defenses). Roadmap 075 explains causation in both federal and California law, why a delay causes harm only if timely care would probably have changed the course of a disease already under way, and why causing a death differs from causing avoidable pain or loss of function. Worksheet 119 builds the clinical timeline, and Playbook 138 sets out the causation arguments the defense side is likely to make.

"I have heard that the law limits what can be recovered in a malpractice case." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 076 (Damages in Custody Medical Cases); 066 (Professional Negligence in Correctional Settings: The Standard of Care, MICRA, § 364 and § 340.5); 096.2 (The Remedies Matrix: What Each Forum Can Award, What It Cannot, and the Statutory Limits That Shape Recovery); and 138 (Causation, Damages and Mitigation Defenses). Roadmap 076 explains, by source of law, the kinds of harm that may be compensated, when punitive awards are and are not available, and the statutory limits that apply. Roadmap 066 explains the MICRA statutes; Roadmap 096.2 places those limits in the matrix of every forum's remedies; and Playbook 138 sets out the arguments that seek to reduce recovery. None of these pages values any matter.

"I want to see what a negligence or wrongful-death complaint looks like." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 129.1 (California Superior Court Pleading Models — Professional Negligence, Wrongful Death, Survival and Mixed County/Private-Contractor Complaints); 066 (Professional Negligence in Correctional Settings: The Standard of Care, MICRA, § 364 and § 340.5); and 065 (Wrongful Death and Survival Actions in Custody Medical Cases). Model 129.1 shows the anatomy of professional-negligence, wrongful-death, survival and mixed county-and-contractor complaints as an educational model, with the facts each part must plead. Roadmaps 066 and 065 carry the law. Do not allege a fact unless you have a good-faith factual basis for it.

Records, evidence and discovery#

This family covers how records are obtained, preserved, protected and used: a patient's own custody medical records and their audit trails; public records of county contracts and oversight; standards and accreditation as evidence; quality-assurance and peer-review protections; discovery in correctional cases; tax records; and the letter models that request records and demand preservation. The six-way records key — have; may request; discovery only; privileged or private; someone else must preserve; must not access — runs through every page in this family, and every page in it warns against obtaining records outside lawful process.

"I want my own medical chart from the jail." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 083 (Custody Medical Records: Access, Authorizations, Audit Trails and the CMIA); 109 (Custody, Medical, Medication, Referral, Grievance and Emergency Records Worksheet); and 132 (Preservation Demand and Statutory Records-Request Letter Models: Personnel File, Payroll Records, Signed Documents, Own Medical Records, and a Litigation-Hold Demand). Roadmap 083 explains the patient-access statute, the federal right of access, the attorney's pre-suit authorization route and the CMIA, and how custody complicates each — two record systems, several possible custodians, and a correctional exception in the federal rule. Worksheet 109 inventories which records exist and which route reaches each, and Model 132 shows the anatomy of a request for one's own medical records.

"I want to know who opened or changed a chart entry after the event." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 083 (Custody Medical Records: Access, Authorizations, Audit Trails and the CMIA); 084 (Discovery in Correctional Healthcare Cases); and 114 (Preservation and Records-Distinction Worksheet). Roadmap 083 explains that an electronic record's audit trail is, in practice, obtainable only through discovery and should be the subject of a preservation demand. Roadmap 084 explains the production of audit trails and video in correctional discovery, and Worksheet 114 logs the preservation demands sent and their dates.

"There is probably video of what happened, and I have heard it gets recorded over." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 007 (Evidence Preservation and Litigation Holds); 059 (Emergency Response, Sick Call and Man-Down Calls); 114 (Preservation and Records-Distinction Worksheet); and 132 (Preservation Demand and Statutory Records-Request Letter Models: Personnel File, Payroll Records, Signed Documents, Own Medical Records, and a Litigation-Hold Demand). Roadmap 007 explains preservation and litigation holds. Roadmap 059 discusses the retention of video, radio and telephone recordings in county departments and their preservation after an emergency. Worksheet 114 records what was demanded and when, and Model 132 shows the anatomy of a litigation-hold demand.

"I want the county's contract with its health-care company, the inspection reports and the grand jury's reports." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 087 (Public Records of Correctional Health Contracts and Oversight); 123 (Public Records, Oversight and Contract Requests Worksheet); 086 (County–Contractor Allocation: Contracts, Indemnity, Insurance and Nondelegable Duties); and 088 (Standards and Accreditation as Evidence: Title 15, NCCHC, ACA and Contract Standards). Roadmap 087 explains the California Public Records Act, what it reaches and what it does not — including a contractor's internal files that the county does not prepare, own, use, retain or control — and the public paper trail a contracting county leaves. Worksheet 123 tracks each request and response. Roadmap 086 explains how the contract allocates duties, indemnity and insurance, and Roadmap 088 explains how inspection reports are used as evidence.

"Someone offered me a copy of an internal review or a peer-review document." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 085 (Peer Review, Quality Assurance and Other Protections from Discovery); 073 (Quality Assurance, Corrective Action Plans and Internal Review in Correctional Health); 007 (Evidence Preservation and Litigation Holds); and 143 (Evidentiary, Privilege and Procedural Defenses: Expert Gatekeeping, § 1157, Arbitration, Discovery Sanctions and Dispositive Motions). Roadmap 085 lists this among the circumstances in which it says to get a lawyer now, and explains the precision rules of Evidence Code § 1157 and the different rule in federal court. Roadmap 073 explains internal review records and their uses. Roadmap 007 explains the "must not access, copy or remove" category, and Playbook 143 explains the privilege disputes that follow.

"I want to know whether the jail met Title 15 or was accredited." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 088 (Standards and Accreditation as Evidence: Title 15, NCCHC, ACA and Contract Standards) and 097 (State Oversight of Local Detention Health Care: The Board of State and Community Corrections, Title 15 Inspections, County Health Officers and the Department of Public Health). Roadmap 088 explains Title 15, NCCHC and ACA standards, contract standards and company protocols as evidence, and the Supreme Court's caution that such standards do not themselves establish constitutional minima. Roadmap 097 explains the state inspections and the public reports they produce.

"I have been asked to produce my tax returns." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 095 (Tax Records as Evidence: W-2s, 1099s, IRS and FTB Confidentiality, Worker Classification and the Taxpayer Privilege) and 038 (Employment Discovery: What Documents and Testimony Matter). Roadmap 095 explains the confidentiality of tax returns and the California privilege that generally protects them from discovery in civil cases, with exceptions. Roadmap 038 explains discovery objections in employment cases.

"A case is pending, and the other side is withholding documents as privileged." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 084 (Discovery in Correctional Healthcare Cases); 085 (Peer Review, Quality Assurance and Other Protections from Discovery); 038 (Employment Discovery: What Documents and Testimony Matter); and 143 (Evidentiary, Privilege and Procedural Defenses: Expert Gatekeeping, § 1157, Arbitration, Discovery Sanctions and Dispositive Motions). Roadmap 084 explains that federal privilege law governs a federal correctional case with supplemental state claims, and how the privilege map differs in state court. Roadmap 085 explains peer-review, patient-safety work product, attorney work product and remedial-measures rules. Roadmap 038 is the employment counterpart, and Playbook 143 explains the privilege and sanctions disputes as the defense side presents them.

Procedure and barriers#

This family covers the rules that decide many cases before the merits are reached: the parts of every deadline; government claims to public entities and late-claim relief; federal exhaustion and the other limits of the Prison Litigation Reform Act; limitation periods and tolling for incarcerated people; removal, immunities, abstention and dispositive motions; and the forum, remedy and element matrices. The Navigator states no period from any of these pages. Each states its sources and triggers; Worksheet 120 collects them for counsel without computation.

"I do not know how much time anyone has, and several clocks may apply." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 008 (Statutes of Limitation, Administrative Deadlines and the Danger of Waiting); 082 (Limitation Periods and Tolling for Incarcerated Plaintiffs); 120 (Claim, Notice and Limitation-Source Tracker (sources and documents only — no computed dates)); and 136 (Limitations, Accrual and Tolling Defenses). Roadmap 008 explains that a deadline depends on accrual, prerequisites, tolling, the claimant, the source of law and changes in the law, and why the series offers no deadline calculator. Roadmap 082 identifies the limitation and tolling sources for incarcerated plaintiffs. Worksheet 120 records the sources, triggers and documents counsel needs and computes nothing, and Playbook 136 sets out the limitations, accrual and tolling arguments the defense side is likely to make.

"The jail is run by the county, and I have heard a written claim has to go to the county first." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 078 (The Government Claims Act in Custody Medical Cases); 131 (Government Claims Act Claim-Presentation Model: Who Is a Public Entity, What a Claim Must Contain, the Six-Month and One-Year Periods, Late-Claim Applications, Rejection and the Suit Deadline Sources); and 135 (Exhaustion and Claim-Presentation Defenses: PLRA, Government Claims Act, § 364, Charge Scope and Plan Appeals). Roadmap 078 explains the Government Claims Act in custody medical cases, how it sorts public and private defendants, and its relationship to federal civil-rights claims. Model 131 shows the anatomy of a government claim as an educational model, and Playbook 135 explains claim-presentation defenses.

"No claim was ever presented to the county, and time has passed." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 079 (Late-Claim Relief, County-versus-Contractor Claims and the § 1983 Exception); 078 (The Government Claims Act in Custody Medical Cases); and 131 (Government Claims Act Claim-Presentation Model: Who Is a Public Entity, What a Claim Must Contain, the Six-Month and One-Year Periods, Late-Claim Applications, Rejection and the Suit Deadline Sources). Roadmap 079 explains the late-claim application and the petition for relief, and the neighboring questions often confused with them: the federal civil-rights exception, private contractors, and claims between the county and its contractor. Roadmap 078 and Model 131 explain the underlying claim requirement.

"I am still in custody; I filed a grievance and never received an answer." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 080 (PLRA Exhaustion and Jail Grievance Systems); 121 (Grievance and Exhaustion Record Worksheet); and 135 (Exhaustion and Claim-Presentation Defenses: PLRA, Government Claims Act, § 364, Charge Scope and Plan Appeals). Roadmap 080 explains federal exhaustion, the meaning of an "available" remedy, and how the requirement depends on custody status when the operative complaint is filed. Worksheet 121 records the facility's written rules, every grievance and appeal, every response and every obstacle, and Playbook 135 explains the exhaustion defense.

"I filed a federal case from custody, and the court issued a screening order." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 081 (PLRA Limits: Physical Injury, Attorney's Fees, Screening and Three Strikes) and 089 (Procedural Barriers: Removal, Immunities, Heck, Abstention and Dispositive Motions). Roadmap 081 explains the PLRA's screening, filing-fee, three-strikes, physical-injury and attorney's-fee provisions and the questions each leaves open. Roadmap 089 explains the dispositive motions and other procedural barriers that follow.

"A case filed in state court was moved to federal court, and now there is a motion to dismiss." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 089 (Procedural Barriers: Removal, Immunities, Heck, Abstention and Dispositive Motions); 134 (Threshold and Jurisdictional Defenses: State Action, Public-Entity Status, Forum, Removal and Pleading); and 143 (Evidentiary, Privilege and Procedural Defenses: Expert Gatekeeping, § 1157, Arbitration, Discovery Sanctions and Dispositive Motions). Roadmap 089 explains removal, official-capacity and immunity questions, abstention, Heck, Doe defendants and summary judgment, and when each tends to appear. Playbook 134 sets out the threshold and jurisdictional defenses, and Playbook 143 the dispositive-motion practice.

"Criminal charges arising from the same events are still pending." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 089 (Procedural Barriers: Removal, Immunities, Heck, Abstention and Dispositive Motions) and 082 (Limitation Periods and Tolling for Incarcerated Plaintiffs). Roadmap 089 explains the Heck and abstention doctrines that can apply when a civil claim intersects with a criminal case. Roadmap 082 identifies the tolling sources that the Roadmaps discuss for pending criminal charges.

"I do not know whether this belongs in a court, an agency, a board or nowhere." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 096 (Where Complaints and Claims Can Be Filed: A Forum Map for Correctional Health Care and Contractor Employment in California); 096.1 (The Master Action-Forum Matrix: Every Forum, What It Decides, Who May Use It, and What It Cannot Do); 096.2 (The Remedies Matrix: What Each Forum Can Award, What It Cannot, and the Statutory Limits That Shape Recovery); and 096.3 (Claim-by-Claim Element Tables: What Each Element Generally Requires, the Facts That May Support It, the Facts That May Defeat It, and the Primary Authority). Roadmap 096 maps the forums by grievance family. Roadmap 096.1 lists every forum the series has found to have real jurisdiction and answers the same ten questions for each. Roadmap 096.2 states what each forum can and cannot award, and Roadmap 096.3 sets out each claim's elements, the facts that may support and defeat each, and the authority. None of these pages chooses a forum for anyone.

Bankruptcy and entity identity#

This family covers the question that the series treats as first in almost every matter: which legal person is which. It includes the method for identifying the correct defendant, the corporate structure as primary records show it, the Wellpath chapter 11 cases and their effects, county–contractor allocation, employer identity, and the entity-identity and bankruptcy defenses. The public record lists Wellpath CFMG, Inc. as a debtor (Case No. 24-90556), jointly administered under lead Case No. 24-90533 in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas; California Forensic Medical Group, Inc. does not appear among the debtors listed in the court's notice of the case. The series keeps those two companies separate everywhere, and it never infers responsibility from a brand. Check Roadmaps 090/091 before suing any Wellpath debtor entity.

"The care was provided by a company whose name includes 'CFMG' or 'Wellpath,' and I do not know which company it was." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 003 (Who Is the Correct Defendant? CFMG, Wellpath, County, Clinician, Supervisor, or Another Entity?); 004 (CFMG and Wellpath Corporate Structure for Litigation Purposes); 101 (Entity Identity Worksheet); and 146 (Entity Reference: California Forensic Medical Group, Inc., the Wellpath Entities, Debtors and Non-Debtors, Counties, Sheriffs, Professional Corporations and Roles). Roadmap 003 gives a five-question method for identifying the person or organization the law makes answerable for a specific duty, decision, policy or injury, and explains why names on badges, emails and contracts prove less than they seem to. Roadmap 004 describes each name only as far as primary records support, using labels such as "debtor in" and "contracted with." Worksheet 101 records each entity by exact legal name and role, and the Entity Reference at 146 collects the public-record facts about each.

"I received a bankruptcy notice, an opt-out form or a letter from a liquidating trust." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 090 (The Wellpath Chapter 11 Cases: Debtors, Non-Debtors, the Confirmed Plan and What Claims Remain) and 091 (Stay, Discharge, Plan Injunctions and Third-Party Releases: How Bankruptcy Rules Apply to Claims Involving Wellpath Entities). Roadmap 090 explains, from the public court record, the Wellpath debtors and non-debtors, the confirmed plan, the liquidating trust, the third-party release and its opt-out procedure, and what claims remain. Roadmap 091 explains the automatic stay, the discharge, the plan injunction, third-party releases and the estate-property rule, and why a claim can survive one and be stopped by another. Both pages list the receipt of such a document among the circumstances in which they say to get a lawyer now.

"A case was already pending against a Wellpath company when the bankruptcy was filed." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 091 (Stay, Discharge, Plan Injunctions and Third-Party Releases: How Bankruptcy Rules Apply to Claims Involving Wellpath Entities); 090 (The Wellpath Chapter 11 Cases: Debtors, Non-Debtors, the Confirmed Plan and What Claims Remain); and 089 (Procedural Barriers: Removal, Immunities, Heck, Abstention and Dispositive Motions). Roadmap 091 explains the stay, the discharge and the plan injunction, and the risk of contempt for violating a discharge order. Roadmap 090 explains what the plan did, and Roadmap 089 describes bankruptcy among the procedural barriers in custody medical cases.

"The clinician worked for a professional corporation, not for a Wellpath company." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 090 (The Wellpath Chapter 11 Cases: Debtors, Non-Debtors, the Confirmed Plan and What Claims Remain); 004 (CFMG and Wellpath Corporate Structure for Litigation Purposes); 137 (Entity-Identity, Joint-Employer, Integrated-Enterprise and Bankruptcy Defenses); and 146 (Entity Reference: California Forensic Medical Group, Inc., the Wellpath Entities, Debtors and Non-Debtors, Counties, Sheriffs, Professional Corporations and Roles). Roadmap 090 explains what the public court record says about the professional corporations affiliated with Wellpath and their status under the plan. Roadmap 004 explains how corporate relationships are checked against primary records, Playbook 137 sets out the entity-identity arguments, and the Entity Reference at 146 states each entity's status as public records show it.

"The county says the contractor is responsible, and the contractor says the county is." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 086 (County–Contractor Allocation: Contracts, Indemnity, Insurance and Nondelegable Duties); 003 (Who Is the Correct Defendant? CFMG, Wellpath, County, Clinician, Supervisor, or Another Entity?); and 137 (Entity-Identity, Joint-Employer, Integrated-Enterprise and Bankruptcy Defenses). Roadmap 086 separates three questions — who is legally liable to the patient, who as between defendants ultimately pays, and from what source any recovery is paid — and explains that a contract clause can shift who pays but cannot by itself create or remove liability to a patient. Roadmap 003 addresses identification, and Playbook 137 explains the joint-employer, integrated-enterprise and bankruptcy defenses.

"I am a worker, and I do not know whether the company that employed me was a debtor." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 094 (Who Was the Employer? Hiring Notices, Wage Statements, EDD and Agency Records as Evidence of Employer Identity); 090 (The Wellpath Chapter 11 Cases: Debtors, Non-Debtors, the Confirmed Plan and What Claims Remain); 101 (Entity Identity Worksheet); and 137 (Entity-Identity, Joint-Employer, Integrated-Enterprise and Bankruptcy Defenses). Roadmap 094 explains the records that identify an employer. Roadmap 090 explains how to read the official debtor list. Worksheet 101 records each candidate entity separately, and Playbook 137 explains the arguments that arise when a related entity was or was not a debtor.

Regulators and oversight#

This family covers the public bodies that receive reports about licensed professionals, health facilities and jails: the Medical Board and the Osteopathic Medical Board; the nursing boards; the Attorney General in its several roles; the Board of State and Community Corrections, county health officers and the Department of Public Health; civil grand juries, sheriff oversight boards, inspectors general and boards of supervisors; the federal civil-rights, health-information and reporting bodies; and Cal/OSHA. The Roadmaps in this family are emphatic on three points: these bodies act for the public and do not award money to a complainant except where a statute says so; a report to any of them is not a jail grievance, not a government claim and not a lawsuit, and preserves none of them; and their reports, findings letters and settlements are public accounts, not judicial findings.

"I want a licensing board to look at a physician's conduct." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 092 (Medical Board of California and Osteopathic Medical Board of California: Complaints, Investigations and Public Records); 127 (Medical Board of California Complaint Toolkit: What the Board Regulates, Who May Report, Evidence, Confidentiality and a Bracketed Model Complaint); and 127.1 (Osteopathic Medical Board of California Complaint Toolkit: Jurisdiction over D.O.s, Intake, Evidence, Confidentiality and a Bracketed Model). Roadmap 092 explains what the Medical Board and the Osteopathic Medical Board regulate, how they receive complaints and investigate, what they can do to a license and what they publish. Toolkit 127 shows the anatomy of a Medical Board complaint, which is open to anyone, and Toolkit 127.1 explains why a complaint about a D.O. belongs with the Osteopathic Medical Board and how the license lookup tells which board has the physician.

"I want a board to look at a nurse's conduct." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 127.2 (Board of Registered Nursing Complaint Toolkit: Jurisdiction over RNs, the Vocational Nursing Board for LVNs, Intake, Evidence and a Bracketed Model) and 092 (Medical Board of California and Osteopathic Medical Board of California: Complaints, Investigations and Public Records). Toolkit 127.2 explains that registered nurses are regulated by the Board of Registered Nursing and licensed vocational nurses and psychiatric technicians by a separate board, that each board regulates the nurse's own conduct rather than an employer's staffing or a contractor's policies, and that intake is open to anyone. Roadmap 092 explains the general structure of licensing complaints.

"I want a state body to look at health conditions in the county jail." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 097 (State Oversight of Local Detention Health Care: The Board of State and Community Corrections, Title 15 Inspections, County Health Officers and the Department of Public Health); 088 (Standards and Accreditation as Evidence: Title 15, NCCHC, ACA and Contract Standards); and 064 (Death in Custody: Investigations, Mortality Reviews and Public Reporting). Roadmap 097 explains the Board of State and Community Corrections' minimum standards and inspections, the county health officer's annual investigation, and the Department of Public Health's jurisdiction where a jail operates a licensed correctional treatment center, stating for each body the ten elements the series uses for regulators. Roadmap 088 explains how inspection reports are used as evidence, and Roadmap 064 explains the Board's in-custody death review.

"I want the grand jury, an oversight board or the board of supervisors to know what is happening in the jail." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 098 (Local Oversight: Civil Grand Juries, Sheriff Oversight Boards, Inspectors General and Boards of Supervisors); 087 (Public Records of Correctional Health Contracts and Oversight); and 123 (Public Records, Oversight and Contract Requests Worksheet). Roadmap 098 explains the civil grand jury's annual inquiry into the county's prisons and the statutory responses to its reports, sheriff oversight boards and inspectors general, the board of supervisors' contract and supervisory role, and the public's statutory right to address it — and that none of these bodies awards damages. Roadmap 087 and Worksheet 123 address the records these bodies produce and how they are requested.

"I believe a pattern at the jail is something a federal agency should look at." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 099 (Federal Oversight of Custody Health Care: DOJ Civil Rights Division (CRIPA), HHS Office for Civil Rights, CMS and the Death in Custody Reporting Act); 048.1 (Settlements, Consent Decrees and Monitor Reports as Evidence: Docket-Level Reading and Admissibility); and 128.1 (HHS Office for Civil Rights Complaint Toolkit: HIPAA Privacy Complaints, the Correctional-Facility Provisions, Disability and Section 1557 Complaints, and a Bracketed Model). Roadmap 099 explains the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and its systemic authority, the disability-complaint routes at the Justice Department and at HHS, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' role and its limits, and the Death in Custody Reporting Act as a data statute rather than a complaint process. Roadmap 048.1 explains how to read findings letters and settlement agreements, and Toolkit 128.1 shows the HHS Office for Civil Rights complaint.

"My health information was disclosed to people who should not have received it." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 128.1 (HHS Office for Civil Rights Complaint Toolkit: HIPAA Privacy Complaints, the Correctional-Facility Provisions, Disability and Section 1557 Complaints, and a Bracketed Model); 083 (Custody Medical Records: Access, Authorizations, Audit Trails and the CMIA); and 099 (Federal Oversight of Custody Health Care: DOJ Civil Rights Division (CRIPA), HHS Office for Civil Rights, CMS and the Death in Custody Reporting Act). Toolkit 128.1 explains HIPAA privacy complaints to the HHS Office for Civil Rights, the question whether a jail contractor is a covered entity, the correctional-institution provisions of the privacy rule, and the absence of a private right of action under HIPAA. Roadmap 083 explains the CMIA, and Roadmap 099 places the Office among the federal bodies.

"I want to know what the Attorney General does about custody deaths, sheriffs or health-care practices." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 093 (The California Attorney General: Licensing Prosecutions, Supervision of Sheriffs, Custody-Death Reports and Health-Care Enforcement) and 064 (Death in Custody: Investigations, Mortality Reviews and Public Reporting). Roadmap 093 explains the Attorney General's roles as prosecutor of licensing cases, supervisor of sheriffs, recipient of in-custody death reports, enforcer of specific health-care statutes and investigator of false claims involving state funds — and what the office is not, including that it does not represent individual patients, families or employees. Roadmap 064 explains the custody-death reports themselves.

"I want to report an unsafe condition in the health unit where I work." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 128 (Cal/OSHA Complaint Toolkit: Workplace-Safety Complaints, Complainant Confidentiality, § 6310 Retaliation Through the Labor Commissioner, and a Bracketed Model) and 021 (California Labor Code §1102.5 Whistleblower Claims). Toolkit 128 explains the Cal/OSHA complaint, its confidentiality, and the separate retaliation route; Roadmap 021 addresses the whistleblower protections that may apply to the same report.

Worksheets#

This family covers the twenty-five worksheets (serials 100–124) that collect a reader's own facts for counsel. Every worksheet uses the six-way records key, records facts and documents rather than conclusions, and leaves every legal judgment to counsel. A worksheet is not filed anywhere; it is the organized file that makes a first consultation useful (Roadmap 009.1 assembles them into a case-review package).

"I need to put what happened in order and keep track of every document." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 100 (Chronology Worksheet); 113 (Agency Correspondence and Exhibit Index Worksheet); and 006 (Building the Master Chronology Before Filing Anything). Worksheet 100 is the single dated sequence from first contact to the most recent event, each entry tied to its proof; Worksheet 113 numbers every document once and logs every communication with every agency, court or board; and Roadmap 006 explains how the chronology is built.

"I need to sort out the companies, the officials and the people who decided things." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 101 (Entity Identity Worksheet); 102 (Decisionmakers Worksheet); and 103 (Witnesses Worksheet). Worksheet 101 identifies every entity and person by exact legal name and role with the document that shows each; Worksheet 102 records decisions, recommendations, approvals and knowledge; and Worksheet 103 records witnesses without characterizing what they will say.

"I need to keep track of what I asked for, what came back and what must be preserved." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 104 (Personnel, Payroll, Benefits and Signed-Document Records Request Worksheet (W-033)); 109 (Custody, Medical, Medication, Referral, Grievance and Emergency Records Worksheet); 114 (Preservation and Records-Distinction Worksheet); and 123 (Public Records, Oversight and Contract Requests Worksheet). Worksheet 104 tracks personnel, payroll, benefits and signed-document requests and compares what was produced with what the reader already has. Worksheet 109 inventories custody, medical, medication, referral, grievance and emergency records. Worksheet 114 applies the six-way distinction to every category of record, and Worksheet 123 tracks public-records, oversight and contract requests.

"My matter is about work: an accommodation, adverse actions, reports I made, or interference with clinical decisions." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 105 (Accommodation Requests, Medical Restrictions, Interactive-Process Communications and Return-to-Work Worksheet); 106 (Adverse Actions and Comparator Evidence Worksheet); 107 (Protected Reports and Regulatory Complaints Worksheet); and 108 (Clinical-Decision Interference and Patient-Safety Reports Worksheet). Worksheet 105 records accommodation requests, restrictions, interactive-process exchanges and return-to-work events. Worksheet 106 records adverse actions and comparator information. Worksheet 107 records protected reports and regulatory complaints, and Worksheet 108 records clinical-decision interference and patient-safety concerns without patient identifiers.

"My matter is about care in custody: sick call, referrals, medications or mental health." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 115 (Sick-Call, Symptom and Clinical-Encounter Log Worksheet); 116 (Referral, Off-Site Care and Transfer Tracking Worksheet); 117 (Medication Continuity and Administration Worksheet); and 118 (Mental-Health, Suicide-Risk, Observation and Restraint Records Worksheet). Worksheet 115 separates symptoms, requests and encounters; Worksheet 116 follows referrals and transfers from order to outcome; Worksheet 117 records medications dose by dose, from reconciliation at booking through the administration record; and Worksheet 118 records what the health record and the custody record each show about mental health, suicide risk, observation and restraint.

"I need a timeline an expert can use, and the facts about staffing and policies." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 119 (Clinical-Course and Causation Timeline Worksheet) and 110 (Staffing, Policies and Training Worksheet). Worksheet 119 builds the timestamped clinical course with a column for questions to the expert and none for conclusions; Worksheet 110 records staffing, policy and training facts from public or lawfully possessed sources.

"Someone has died, and the family needs to organize." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 111 (Death in Custody Worksheet) and 122 (Heirs, Successors and Family Records Worksheet). Worksheet 111 records the facts and public records about a death in custody and the records to request and preserve; Worksheet 122 records family relationships and documents so that counsel can answer who may act.

"I need to record losses, deadline sources, grievances, or accommodation in custody." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 112 (Damages and Mitigation Worksheet); 120 (Claim, Notice and Limitation-Source Tracker (sources and documents only — no computed dates)); 121 (Grievance and Exhaustion Record Worksheet); and 124 (Disability, Pregnancy and Accommodation-in-Custody Worksheet). Worksheet 112 records economic losses and mitigation efforts. Worksheet 120 records deadline sources, triggers and the documents' own dates for counsel, and must not be used to compute anything. Worksheet 121 records the grievance and exhaustion record, and Worksheet 124 records disability, pregnancy, dental and communicable-disease conditions in custody with each request and response.

Educational models#

This family covers the toolkits and models (serials 125–132): the administrative-complaint toolkits, which follow a fifteen-part structure; the court pleading models, which show the anatomy of a complaint; the government-claim model; and the records-request and preservation letter models. Every model is an educational model only. None is a form, none should be filed as written, and the pleading models in particular exist so that a reader can follow what counsel is building and gather the facts counsel will need. Do not allege a fact unless you have a good-faith factual basis for it.

"I am preparing a charge for the EEOC or a complaint for the Civil Rights Department." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 125 (EEOC Charge Toolkit: Jurisdiction, Eligibility, Chronology, Evidence Index and a Bracketed Model Charge); 125.1 (California Civil Rights Department Complaint Toolkit: FEHA and CFRA Complaints, Right-to-Sue Notices and a Bracketed Model); 034 (EEOC Charge Roadmap); and 035 (California Civil Rights Department Roadmap). Toolkit 125 walks through the jurisdiction and eligibility checklists, chronology and entity sheets, evidence index and a bracketed model charge; Toolkit 125.1 does the same for FEHA and CFRA complaints. Roadmaps 034 and 035 carry the law of each process.

"I am preparing a wage claim, or an appeal from an unemployment decision." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 126 (Labor Commissioner Wage Claim Toolkit: Berman Hearings, Record-Access Penalties, Retaliation Complaints and a Bracketed Model Claim) and 126.1 (EDD Pathway Toolkit: Unemployment and Disability Insurance Claims, Appeals to the CUIAB, Wage-Credit Discrepancies and What EDD Cannot Decide). Toolkit 126 explains the Labor Commissioner wage claim, the hearing, record-access penalty claims and retaliation complaints within the office's jurisdiction. Toolkit 126.1 explains EDD claims, appeals and what EDD cannot decide.

"I am preparing a complaint to a licensing board." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 127 (Medical Board of California Complaint Toolkit: What the Board Regulates, Who May Report, Evidence, Confidentiality and a Bracketed Model Complaint); 127.1 (Osteopathic Medical Board of California Complaint Toolkit: Jurisdiction over D.O.s, Intake, Evidence, Confidentiality and a Bracketed Model); and 127.2 (Board of Registered Nursing Complaint Toolkit: Jurisdiction over RNs, the Vocational Nursing Board for LVNs, Intake, Evidence and a Bracketed Model). Toolkits 127, 127.1 and 127.2 show the anatomy of complaints to the Medical Board, the Osteopathic Medical Board and the nursing boards, including the distinction between discipline and damages and between a licensee and a company.

"I am preparing a workplace-safety complaint or a federal health-privacy complaint." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 128 (Cal/OSHA Complaint Toolkit: Workplace-Safety Complaints, Complainant Confidentiality, § 6310 Retaliation Through the Labor Commissioner, and a Bracketed Model) and 128.1 (HHS Office for Civil Rights Complaint Toolkit: HIPAA Privacy Complaints, the Correctional-Facility Provisions, Disability and Section 1557 Complaints, and a Bracketed Model). Toolkit 128 explains the Cal/OSHA complaint and the separate retaliation route; Toolkit 128.1 explains the HHS Office for Civil Rights complaint and the correctional-facility provisions that affect it.

"I want to see what a complaint filed in court looks like." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 129 (California Superior Court Pleading Models — Employment: Annotated Anatomy of FEHA, Retaliation, Whistleblower, Wrongful-Termination and Wage/Contract Complaints); 129.1 (California Superior Court Pleading Models — Professional Negligence, Wrongful Death, Survival and Mixed County/Private-Contractor Complaints); 130 (Federal District Court Pleading Models — § 1983 Correctional Medical-Care Complaints and Private-Contractor Policy-or-Custom Claims); and 130.1 (Federal District Court Pleading Models — ADA Employment Complaints After Exhaustion, FMLA Counts, ERISA Counts Where Genuinely Applicable, and Mixed Federal/State Complaints Under Supplemental Jurisdiction). Models 129 and 129.1 show the anatomy of California superior court complaints — employment, and professional negligence, wrongful death, survival and mixed county-and-contractor complaints. Models 130 and 130.1 show federal complaints — § 1983 correctional medical-care and policy-or-custom claims, and ADA, FMLA, ERISA and mixed employment complaints. Each says that a complaint should not be drafted without counsel, and each explains why pleading elements as conclusions, or pleading facts that cannot be supported, causes harm. Do not allege a fact unless you have a good-faith factual basis for it.

"I want to see what a government claim to a county contains." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 131 (Government Claims Act Claim-Presentation Model: Who Is a Public Entity, What a Claim Must Contain, the Six-Month and One-Year Periods, Late-Claim Applications, Rejection and the Suit Deadline Sources); 078 (The Government Claims Act in Custody Medical Cases); and 079 (Late-Claim Relief, County-versus-Contractor Claims and the § 1983 Exception). Model 131 explains who is a public entity, what a claim must contain, late-claim applications, rejection and the suit-period sources, and ends with a bracketed model; Roadmaps 078 and 079 carry the doctrine.

"I want to see what a records request or a preservation letter looks like." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 132 (Preservation Demand and Statutory Records-Request Letter Models: Personnel File, Payroll Records, Signed Documents, Own Medical Records, and a Litigation-Hold Demand); 033 (Employee Personnel Files: What to Request and Why); 083 (Custody Medical Records: Access, Authorizations, Audit Trails and the CMIA); and 007 (Evidence Preservation and Litigation Holds). Model 132 shows the personnel-file, payroll-records, signed-documents, own-medical-records and litigation-hold letters, and the practices that make them work — exact entity names, proof of receipt, copies rather than inspection. Roadmaps 033, 083 and 007 carry the law behind each.

Defense playbooks#

This family covers the defense playbooks (serials 133–143), which state, neutrally, the strongest arguments the other side is likely to make, what supports and weakens each, who bears the burden where the law establishes it, and what governs it. The playbooks assess no one's matter and predict no outcome. They exist so that a reader can see what the record must show, and so that counsel on either side reading them finds nothing but the arguments it would make anyway.

"I want to know what the other side will say, claim by claim." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 133 (The Defense Playbook: The Strongest Likely Opposing Arguments, Claim by Claim — What Each Defense Means, What Supports It, What Weakens It, Who Bears the Burden, and What Governs It). Roadmap 133 is the crosswalk: each defense, grouped as threshold, employment, constitutional and correctional, and negligence, privilege and damages defenses, with a pointer to the Roadmap that carries the claim and to the deeper playbook that follows.

"The other side says this is the wrong court, the wrong defendant or the wrong kind of claim." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 134 (Threshold and Jurisdictional Defenses: State Action, Public-Entity Status, Forum, Removal and Pleading) and 089 (Procedural Barriers: Removal, Immunities, Heck, Abstention and Dispositive Motions). Playbook 134 explains state action, public-entity status, removal and remand, abstention and supplemental jurisdiction, and pleading attacks. Roadmap 089 carries the procedural barriers.

"The other side says a required step was skipped, or that the case was filed too late." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 135 (Exhaustion and Claim-Presentation Defenses: PLRA, Government Claims Act, § 364, Charge Scope and Plan Appeals); 136 (Limitations, Accrual and Tolling Defenses); 080 (PLRA Exhaustion and Jail Grievance Systems); and 078 (The Government Claims Act in Custody Medical Cases). Playbook 135 explains exhaustion and claim-presentation defenses — federal exhaustion, the Government Claims Act, the professional-negligence notice, charge scope and plan appeals — and notes the claims that require no exhaustion at all. Playbook 136 explains limitations, accrual and tolling defenses and computes nothing. Roadmaps 080 and 078 carry the underlying law.

"The other side says it was not the employer, or that the claim was discharged in bankruptcy." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 137 (Entity-Identity, Joint-Employer, Integrated-Enterprise and Bankruptcy Defenses); 090 (The Wellpath Chapter 11 Cases: Debtors, Non-Debtors, the Confirmed Plan and What Claims Remain); 091 (Stay, Discharge, Plan Injunctions and Third-Party Releases: How Bankruptcy Rules Apply to Claims Involving Wellpath Entities); and 094 (Who Was the Employer? Hiring Notices, Wage Statements, EDD and Agency Records as Evidence of Employer Identity). Playbook 137 explains the entity-identity, joint-employer, integrated-enterprise and bankruptcy defenses and the documents that decide each. Roadmaps 090, 091 and 094 carry the underlying law and records.

"The other side says the outcome would have been the same, or that the losses are overstated." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 138 (Causation, Damages and Mitigation Defenses); 075 (Causation in Correctional Medical Cases); 076 (Damages in Custody Medical Cases); and 037 (Employment Damages and Mitigation). Playbook 138 explains causation, damages and mitigation defenses in correctional and employment cases; Roadmaps 075, 076 and 037 carry the law. None of these pages values any matter.

"In an employment case, the other side gives a legitimate reason, or says no accommodation was possible." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 139 (Legitimate Reason, Pretext and Same-Decision Defenses in Employment Cases) and 140 (Accommodation Defenses: Essential Functions, Undue Hardship, Direct Threat and the Interactive Process). Playbook 139 explains legitimate-reason, pretext and same-decision defenses and the frameworks that allocate burdens. Playbook 140 explains essential-function, undue-hardship, direct-threat and interactive-process defenses, and the Title II defenses in custody.

"In a custody case, the other side says it was medical judgment, that there was no policy, or that the evidence should be excluded." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 141 (Constitutional Medical-Care Defenses: No Deliberate Indifference, Medical Judgment, Difference of Opinion and Qualified Immunity); 142 (Monell and Corporate-Liability Defenses: No Policy or Custom, No Moving Force, Single Incident and Respondeat Superior); and 143 (Evidentiary, Privilege and Procedural Defenses: Expert Gatekeeping, § 1157, Arbitration, Discovery Sanctions and Dispositive Motions). Playbook 141 explains the constitutional medical-care defenses, including qualified immunity and the question whether it is available to a private contractor's clinician. Playbook 142 explains the Monell and corporate-liability defenses. Playbook 143 explains expert gatekeeping, peer-review protections, arbitration, discovery sanctions and dispositive motions.

Libraries#

This family groups source-A draft reference libraries (serials 144–149) with conflicting October 11 source-B titles. Current deployment, removal of internal material, completeness of the authority register, and regeneration at release are unverified. They may contain legal explanations and source limitations, but cannot be presented as an authenticated public reference system until the underlying bodies, register rows, citations, privacy and release state are independently cleared.

"I want to check a statute or regulation a Roadmap cites." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 144 (Statute and Regulation Library: Every Statute and Regulation Cited in the Roadmaps, With the Proposition Each Supports and Its Verification Status) and 148 (Provenance, Certainty Grades and Review Dates: How the Roadmaps Verify Authority and What the Grades Mean). The recovered source-A 144 manuscript contains an historical statute/regulation index and source grades; completeness against the latest corpus and direct authentication of each proposition remain open. Source-A 148 describes a verification method and its limitations, not a certificate that all entries were checked.

"I want to check a court decision a Roadmap relies on." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 145 (Case Library: Every Decision Cited in the Roadmaps, With Court, Precedential Status, Holding Relied On and Pages Using It) and 148 (Provenance, Certainty Grades and Review Dates: How the Roadmaps Verify Authority and What the Grades Mean). The source-A 145 manuscript contains an historical case index with later candidate corrections; comprehensive case-history, precedential status and use-on-each-page verification are still open. Source-A 148 explains proposed certainty grades without independently authenticating every case.

"I want to know which company or public body is which." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 146 (Entity Reference: California Forensic Medical Group, Inc., the Wellpath Entities, Debtors and Non-Debtors, Counties, Sheriffs, Professional Corporations and Roles); 004 (CFMG and Wellpath Corporate Structure for Litigation Purposes); and 101 (Entity Identity Worksheet). The source-A 146 candidate assembles reported legal names and roles; disputed status, professional-corporation relationships, debtor/nondebtor identity, and later docket developments require current official records and legal review, not the table alone. Roadmap 004 and Worksheet 101 carry the method.

"I do not know what a term means." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 147 (Glossary: Legal and Clinical Terms as the Roadmaps Use Them). Library 147 compiles the legal and clinical terms the Roadmaps define, with the Roadmap that defines each and related terms.

"I want to know how the series verifies its sources and what 'Settled' or 'Documented report' means." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 148 (Provenance, Certainty Grades and Review Dates: How the Roadmaps Verify Authority and What the Grades Mean). Library 148 explains official and reproduction hosts, verification status, human verification, the five certainty grades and how review dates work.

"I think a Roadmap contains an error." These facts may raise questions addressed in Roadmaps 149 (Corrections and Version History: How Errors Are Reported and Fixed). The revised source-A 149 draft describes proposed correction controls and preserves a 169-entry historical inventory. It does not establish that any public correction intake, complete version history or automatic re-routing is operational.

If you cannot find your situation — and finding counsel#

Not every situation appears in a gateway. The gateways were chosen because the series encounters them repeatedly, not because they exhaust what can happen. A reader whose facts do not match any gateway has several routes. The first is to read the families adjacent to the closest gateway, because facts that almost fit one family usually fit another in part. The second is to return to the orientation pages: Roadmap 001 (CFMG–Wellpath Claims & Accountability Roadmaps: Start Here) explains how the series is organized; Roadmap 001.1 (CFMG & Wellpath Claims, Complaints and Accountability: A California and Federal Action Guide) fixes the order of work and routes each subject to the product that carries it; Roadmap 002 (What Kind of Claim Might You Have?) maps the kinds of claim in five branches; and Roadmap 002.1 (What Kind of Action Is This? A Fact-First Guidebook to the Roadmaps) discusses fourteen recurring statements of fact in more depth than this page. The third is the forum pages at 096 and 096.1, which approach the same material from the side of the forum rather than the facts. The fourth is the Glossary at 147, because a situation is sometimes hidden behind an unfamiliar word.

If none of those routes finds the situation, the most likely explanation is that the series does not address it. That is not a judgment that the facts raise no legal question. The series is limited by design — to California and federal law, to correctional health care and health-care employment, and to the subjects its Roadmaps carry — and its silence about a situation says nothing about the merits of anyone's matter. A reader in that position should treat the absence of a gateway as a reason to consult counsel, not as an answer.

Finding counsel

Roadmap 009 (Finding Counsel and Preparing an Attorney-Ready Case File) explains neutral ways to find a lawyer and how to prepare so that a first consultation is useful. The series does not recommend lawyers, does not accept case materials and receives nothing for any referral; the routes Roadmap 009 describes are general categories, not endorsements. Roadmap 009.1 (The Attorney-Ready Case File: A Standardized Fifteen-Part Case-Review Package) specifies the fifteen-part case-review package — what happened, who was involved and which entities they belonged to, what must happen before each kind of claim, which deadline sources are at risk, the evidence and where it is, the witnesses, the losses, what has already been filed, what else has happened, whether bankruptcy or entity structure complicates anything, what the other side will say, what is missing and what the reader wants to know — assembled from the worksheets in the family above. Where any of the circumstances in the "Stop and get a lawyer now" callout at the top of this page applies, Roadmap 009 notes that contacting several sources at once is often wiser than waiting for one to respond.

Primary authorities#

This Navigator contains substantive legal and corporate-history characterizations despite its routing purpose. During this private review, 29 U.S.C. §1132(e)(1) was checked against the official 2023 U.S. Code text and a 2026-updated reproduction; PACER/United States Courts official access guidance and the claims-agent Wellpath case-information search result were also examined. This is selective review only: the 2026 official-code edition for §1132, court docket and specific plan/release instruments, California statutes, contrary authority and subsequent history remain unverified. The source-A inherited legal register is not an independent certification.

Related roadmaps#

HISTORICAL SOURCE-A SERIAL INVENTORY ONLY. Entries below are not active validated hyperlinks. The 079–099, 100–124 and 125–150 labels require source-body reconciliation; 090–091 are absent from one competing index (omission only), and 051 has a missing revised candidate. Do not promote these references into any site link graph or LEAP integration until a resolved ID/title/body/destination crosswalk is approved.

001, 001.1, 002, 002.1, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 009.1, 010, 011, 012, 013, 014, 015, 016, 017, 018, 019, 020, 021, 022, 023, 024, 025, 026, 026.1, 027, 027.1, 027.2, 028, 029, 030, 031, 032, 033, 034, 035, 036, 037, 037.1, 038, 039, 040, 040.1, 041, 042, 043, 044, 045, 046, 047, 048, 048.1, 049, 050, 051, 052, 053, 054, 055, 056, 057, 058, 059, 060, 061, 062, 063, 064, 065, 066, 067, 068, 069, 070, 071, 072, 073, 074, 075, 076, 077, 078, 079, 080, 081, 082, 083, 084, 085, 086, 087, 088, 089, 090, 091, 092, 093, 094, 095, 096, 096.1, 096.2, 096.3, 097, 098, 099, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 125.1, 126, 126.1, 127, 127.1, 127.2, 128, 128.1, 129, 129.1, 130, 130.1, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149

What this page cannot do#

It cannot tell a reader what kind of matter they have, or whether they have one. It routes from facts to pages; it does not evaluate facts. It cannot say that any reader has a claim, that any entity or person is responsible for anything, or whom to name in any complaint, charge, claim, grievance or report. It cannot state, estimate or compute any deadline, and nothing on it should be read as suggesting that time remains. It cannot say what any loss is worth or what any forum would award. It cannot recommend a forum, a filing, a sequence or any other course of action. It cannot replace the Roadmaps it routes to, the worksheets that organize the facts, or the counsel who must decide.

It also cannot be complete. Its gateways are generic, invented statements chosen for frequency, and real situations rarely match any one of them exactly. It reflects an historical source-A allocation only; current publication identifiers, rerouting and version changes have not been verified. It cannot see any reader's documents, dates or circumstances, and it never tries to. Where the facts are serious, recent, or carry a date, the only reliable next step is a lawyer who has reviewed them.