$12.5M Judgment Against Assisted Living Facility: In January 2023, a $12.5 million default judgment was entered against A Place to Grow, which was an assisted living facility located in Brandon, Florida until in closed in September 2022, in favor of the family of a 59-year-old resident who resided in A Place to Grow for only two months before she was rushed to the hospital due to a stage IV bedsore that resulted in sepsis and caused her death, according to her daughter’s lawsuit.
The woman’s loving daughter was taking care of her mother in her home until her mother’s Alzheimer’s disease progressed to the point where she could no longer care for her mother’s safety. The daughter stated, “I fought it, but her doctors kept insisting, ‘You’re going to have to put her in a facility for her safety.’ And we did, because at one point, we had to actually put a lock on the inside of the house because she kept trying to get out.”
An acquaintance recommended to the daughter A Place to Grow, which was only a few miles from where the daughter worked. Her mother became a resident of the small assisted living facility in May 2021. The daughter was able to visit her mother daily; her mother seemed happy at the assisted living facility.
In July 2021, the daughter received an urgent telephone call from a physician who advised her that her mother needed to go to the emergency room for pneumonia and a severe pressure ulcer that had developed. Upon arrival at the hospital and evaluation by the medical staff, it was determined that nothing medically could be done to treat her condition. The mother had sepsis that took her life a few days later. Her death certificate reportedly stated that the cause of her death was a failure to thrive due to Alzheimer’s disease.
The Florida assisted living lawsuit was filed in 2022 by the daughter, alleging that the assisted living facility’s understaffing and negligence in caring for her mother caused a preventable injury that led to her death. Defendants A Place to Grow LLC and the owner of the assisted living facility failed to respond to the lawsuit, thereby resulting in the judge entering a default judgment in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of $12.5 million, which was the amount awarded by a jury. Whether the plaintiff will ever receive payment on the judgment is unlikely – the owner reportedly was charged last year with murdering his wife, who was also named as a defendant in the daughter’s lawsuit: “I’m not in it for the money. I just wanted to get justice for my mom. To me, justice has been served — I just didn’t want this to happen to someone else.”
If you or a loved one suffered injuries (or worse) while a resident of an assisted living facility in the United States due to an assisted living fall, assisted living neglect, assisted living negligence, assisted living abuse, assisted living under-staffing, or an assisted living facility failing to properly care for a vulnerable adult, you should promptly find an assisted living claim lawyer in your state who may investigate your assisted living claim for you and file an assisted living claim on your behalf or on behalf of your loved one, if appropriate.
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