Confidential
Settlement – $9,000,000Facts
The plaintiff, a 51-year-old female then, was profoundly disfigured, beaten, tortured and suffered extensive
irreversible brain damage as a result of the injuries sustained between 1984 and 1997. During this period, the
plaintiff was confined to a 30-foot sailboat, anchored 200 yards away from any other boat or human contact.
Between 1999 and 1997, the plaintiff did not have any freedom of contact with any human being other than her
husband, there was no phone to use and, at almost all times, she was unable to ambulate due to numerous
untreated fractures, malnutrition, brain dysfunction and blindness.
In 1984, the plaintiffÆs husband sought to obtain benefits from defendant social services on behalf of his wife.
Before authorizing benefits, the social services requires approval from doctor. Accordingly, the social services
sent the plaintiff to be evaluated by its state-approved physician. The plaintiff contended that the physician
wrote a warning to the social services, expressly advising that "I feel we may be dealing with long term and
severe abuse that may have caused significant brain damage - would urge immediate investigation into home
situation."
The plaintiff further contended that despite this warning from its own, hired physician, the social services
simply approved funding for the plaintiff without looking into her care giving situation whatsoever. Over the
next 13 years, the social services paid the plaintiffÆs husband to be her state-approved care provider. Although
the social services received additional warnings of spousal abuse and neglect from its own state-approved
physicianÆs.
The plaintiff claimed that the social services did not investigate the appropriateness of the care giver situation
nor did perform its mandatory annual reassessment visits to determine if the plaintiff was receiving appropriate
care from her state-paid care provider (her husband). Despite mandatory one year reviews, there were periods
of time of more than four years at a time, when no one from the social services ever saw the plaintiff or
evaluated her situation. In fact, despite a mandatory requirement to interview clients within the clientÆs home
environment, the plaintiff claimed that the social services stopped visiting the plaintiff at the boat in 1987. The
plaintiff was not rescued for an additional 10 years after that last visit. On the few times when the social
services did visit the plaintiff, all interviews were conducted in the presence of her husband, the alleged abuser.
The plaintiff claimed that in fact, although the social services caseworkers acknowledged that the husband was
very controlling, and was neglecting his wife, no one from the social welfare ever made an attempt to simply
speak with the plaintiff alone to seek an independent evaluation of her condition. The entire time (1984-1997),
the social welfare took the husbandÆs word that the plaintiff was degenerating physically due to multiple
sclerosis. There was never a formal diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and, despite several social services-paid
physician requests for positive identification of the multiple sclerosis, the social services did not order any tests
to be performed. As it turns out, the plaintiff does not have multiple sclerosis and never did. In 1996, the social
services transferred the plaintiffÆs file to defendant county.
The plaintiff contended that the defendant county also failed to perform a mandatory, in-person assessment of
the plaintiff. This allowed further profound neglect and abuse to occur.
Injuries
In 1997, the plaintiff was liberated from the sailboat. The plaintiff was found, covered in dog feces vomit and urine. The plaintiff was profoundly emaciated and smelled like rotting flesh. She had several untreated fractures, including breaks in almost all of her major bones. She was legally blinded from untreated glaucoma and retinal hemorrhaging. The plaintiffÆs ears were severally deformed and cauliflowered. The plaintiff can no longer ambulate in any manner whatsoever.
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