What is a negligent admission or retention claim?

It is the claim theory most specific to assisted living: that the facility accepted a resident, or kept one after their condition changed, whose care needs exceeded what its licensure category, staffing or physical plant could safely meet.

The plaintiff argument writes itself, because the licensure category is a public statement about what acuity the facility is equipped to serve, and the resident record shows what it was actually doing. Residents age in place, needs increase, and a facility reluctant to move a long-standing resident or unable to afford the vacancy keeps providing care that has drifted beyond the license.

The defense is a documented reassessment process with defined triggers and a recorded decision at each one. That converts the hardest fact in the case, that the facility kept the resident, into evidence that it knew, evaluated and decided rather than simply not noticing.