Facts

Prior to moving to defendant Fairwinds-West Hills' assisted living facility, Milton and Renee Glass, a devoted couple of 68-years, their daughter, and their primary physician were transparent about Milton's diagnosis of Parkinsonism. He presented in a wheelchair during each of the 40 hours the family spent in the "selling zone," hammering out the specifics of Milton's time-specific needs for basic assistance with ADLs-showering, toileting, transfers plus his prescription diet, the provision of which is mandated by the state of California under Title 22 regulations. The facility was aware that Mr. Glass had a private caregiver working 40 hours per week, plus strong family support. Each and every detail was fine-tuned and agreed upon before the contract was signed. They took him as he as he was and told the family to have no anxiety about adequate staffing and training specific to Parkinsonism.

On April 1 2015, Milton Glass slid from his lift recliner to the floor at defendant's facility. He was uninjured. Renee Glass called for assistance putting him back in his chair. The facility called 911 without informing the residents or responsible party. Multiple first responders and three Fairwinds staff members filled the room to assess Mr. Glass, during which time the fire captain locked Mrs. Glass out of the room when she strenuously objected to the idea that he might be taken to the ER against his expressed wishes. Police were called and caused Mrs. Glass to be chemically and physically restrained, and detained on a 5150. She was released within hours as there were no grounds to hold her.

After that, defendants reassessed Mr. Glass without notifying him, his physician or his family, and attempted to evict Mr. Glass on a three day notice to quit. They claimed Mr. Glass could no longer feed himself, however photographic evidence presented in court proved otherwise. Once properly reassessed in the clear light of day, Mr. Glass was found to be in at his preadmission levels and the eviction notice was rescinded. Fairwinds was cited by the licensing agency for an improper eviction.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs alleged pervasive and continuous violations of Title 22 as well as Leisure Care LLC's own Policies and Procedures. Plaintiffs claimed that it became apparent immediately after move-in that Fairwinds could not and would not honor the contract. Breaches to the Residents Bill of Rights were frequent and retaliatory including a bait and switch threat to withhold services unless the Glasses procured an unnecessary hospital bed, or agreed to switch to 24/7 private caregivers. The defendants had agreed to provide services on a time-specific schedule and they did not comply with their agreement. They also agreed to provide a mechanical soft diet as per state regulations and physician's order, but they did not do that. They required the family to guess which foods were mechanically soft and/or modify the food themselves in unsanitary conditions. When family tried to enforce the terms of the contract, the defendants doubled-down to try to get them to leave.

Plaintiffs contended that defendants engaged in subterfuge and violated their contract by organizing a campaign which included, making threats to withhold caregiving services, failing to provide the prescribed diet, conducting secret reassessments of plaintiff's condition as a pretext to eviction, hiding the reassessment from the primary physician in violation of Title 22, and ultimately serving an improper eviction notice for which they were cited by Community Care Licensing.

Plaintiff claimed that the facility failed to comply with state regulations regarding maintaining the premises including allowing faulty smoke alarms to cacophonously false-alarm for months at all hours of the day and night, failing to repair malfunctioning call pendants in a timely manner, failing to properly repair appliances, doors and heavy window blinds, one of which fell on and permanently injured Mrs. Glass' shoulder and wrist.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: The defense denied all claims and denied all liability.

Injuries

Mr. and Mrs. Glass suffered post-traumatic stress, mental suffering, anguish and humiliation as a result of this incident. Mrs. Glass also suffered permanent wrist, shoulder and knee injuries in the melee.

Result

The jury awarded Renee Glass $500,000 and the Estate of Milton Glass $1.5 million, and answered "yes" to an advisory question, "should the plaintiffs be awarded legal fees?"

Other Information

Leisure Care set up a shell corporation for each its facilities and claimed that they were not part of the contract for services and therefore could not be liable on breach of contract or negligence. The jury rejected that and found Leisure Care, LLC., and the shell corporation, WHills LLC., equally liable.

Deliberation

six hours

Length

three weeks