Nursing Home Negligence Verdict News

$110 Million to Family of 100-Year-Old Woman Who Died After Wandering Out of Assisted Living Facility

A Sacramento jury has awarded $110 million to the family of Mildred Hernandez, a 100-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease who wandered out of an assisted living facility in the early morning hours and died from hypothermia. The verdict, returned against Greenhaven Estates Assisted Living and Memory Care, stands as a powerful rebuke of what the family's attorneys described as a pattern of understaffing and willful indifference to resident safety. "She was like superwoman," Hernandez's daughter, Roberta Hernandez Tapia, said of her mother. "She kind of did it all and raised four girls. Family was super important." The family trusted Greenhaven Estates to keep her safe. According to their account, it failed her in the worst possible way.What Happened in February 2019 The events unfolded before dawn on a cold February morning in 2019. According to attorneys for the Hernandez family, the last documented check on Mildred Hernandez occurred around 1 a.m. Sometime before 6 am, she was found unresponsive outside the facility, beyond an exit door that locked automatically behind her. Outdoor temperatures were approximately 38 degrees. Attorneys say the evidence suggests she was outside for several hours. She was transported to a hospital but did not survive. The cause of death was hypothermia.Staff Knew She Was a Wandering Risk At the center of the family's case was a troubling allegation: staff at Greenhaven Estates had known for months before Hernandez's death that she was wandering the facility at night. "The staff knew for a period of months leading up to this day that Mildred was wandering in the middle of the night," said Ed Dudensing of Dudensing Law, who represented the Hernandez family at trial. "And there's nothing documented about it. No one was told about it." Hernandez had been formally identified as a wandering risk due to her Alzheimer's diagnosis. Attorneys argued that despite this, the facility took no meaningful steps to protect her.Profits Over Safety: Sacramento Assisted Living Negligence on Trial The Hernandez family's legal team argued that the companies responsible for Greenhaven Estates placed financial considerations above the wellbeing of vulnerable residents. The core allegation was that the facility was chronically understaffed, and that this understaffing created the conditions that allowed Hernandez to leave undetected and spend hours in freezing temperatures without anyone noticing she was gone. The jury agreed. The $110 million verdict reflected the jury's findings on behalf of a family that has spent years seeking accountability for what they describe as a preventable death. Greenhaven Estates Assisted Living and Memory Care has since rebranded and now operates under the name Spanish Vines Assisted Living and Memory Care, according to attorney Ed Dudensing.A Family's Hope After an Irreplaceable Loss The Hernandez family has been measured in how they've spoken about the outcome. They have not framed the verdict as a victory, but as something more complicated: a result that cannot undo what happened, but might protect others. "The family said the verdict cannot bring their mother back, but they hope it will lead to stronger protections for seniors living in assisted living facilities," according to ABC10 Sacramento, which covered the trial. Another daughter captured the grief the family continues to carry: "She's left a hole in our hearts, and the grandchildren. We all loved her so much." The case is a reminder that California assisted living facilities bear a serious legal and moral obligation to residents with cognitive impairments. For families navigating these decisions, verdicts like this one reveal what can happen when that obligation goes unmet.What This Verdict Means for Elder Abuse Cases in California A $110 million jury award in an elder abuse and wrongful death case is significant by any measure. It signals that California juries are willing to impose substantial accountability on assisted living operators when evidence shows a pattern of neglect rather than an isolated incident. Elder abuse litigation has increasingly focused on corporate ownership structures and staffing decisions as root causes of harm, rather than the actions of individual caregivers. The Hernandez case, with its documented months of known wandering risk and no paper trail to show the facility acted on that knowledge, fit squarely within that framework. For plaintiff attorneys who handle elder abuse and nursing home cases, this verdict adds to a growing body of results demonstrating that California courts take these claims seriously. Attorneys can track verdicts like this one, post their own trial results, and find a community of peers at Major Verdict, the national platform where plaintiff lawyers publicly display their trial records.Conclusion Mildred Hernandez lived a full century. She raised four daughters, and by her family's account, she was devoted, capable, and deeply loved. The last hours of her life were spent alone outside in the February cold, not because of an unforeseeable accident, but because, according to the jury that heard the evidence, the facility entrusted with her care chose not to act on what it knew. The $110 million verdict returned by a Sacramento jury will not bring her back. Her family said as much. But it is now part of the public record, and it carries weight for every family considering assisted living care for a loved one with dementia. If you or someone you love has been seriously injured or lost to nursing home neglect, verdicts like this one show what juries are willing to award when the evidence is strong and the attorney is prepared. Find a plaintiff lawyer on Major Verdict who has the trial record to back it up.

$14.7 Million Miami Nursing Home Verdict Is the Largest in Miami-Dade History

A Miami-Dade County jury has returned a $14.7 million verdict against a Miami nursing home in the wrongful death of an 82-year-old resident who developed catastrophic pressure sores that went untreated until they turned fatal. The verdict, entered in the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County under Case No. 2023-021325-CA-01, is reported to be the largest jury verdict ever obtained against a nursing home in Miami. The case was tried by attorneys Garrick Harding and Dylan Hanson of Senior Justice Law Firm, on behalf of the estate and surviving family of Mr. Brakes, who died after suffering injuries that his attorneys argued were entirely preventable.What Happened to Mr. Brakes at Krystal Bay Nursing and Rehab Mr. Brakes, 82 years old, was a resident at Krystal Bay Nursing and Rehab in Miami when he developed Stage 4 pressure sores on his sacrum and right heel. According to evidence presented at trial, the wounds were not adequately treated and progressed to sepsis and osteomyelitis (a severe bone infection), requiring multiple amputations. He ultimately died from complications of the injuries. Pressure sores at that severity level do not develop overnight. Stage 4 wounds, the most serious classification, involve damage through skin, tissue, and into muscle or bone. Medical experts and nursing home regulators broadly agree that Stage 4 pressure sores in a care facility setting are almost always a sign of systemic neglect: residents who are not regularly repositioned, monitored, or treated. At trial, attorneys for the Brakes family demonstrated that the injuries were the product of systemic failures in care, not an unavoidable outcome of Mr. Brakes' age or health conditions.The Jury's Verdict and How Damages Were Calculated The jury awarded damages to all six of Mr. Brakes' surviving children for the loss of their father. Mortality tables introduced into evidence established that Mr. Brakes had a life expectancy of an additional 7.11 years at the time of his death. The family's attorneys requested $250,000 per year per child for that period. The jury went further, awarding $350,000 per year per child for a full seven years, exceeding what the family asked for, reflecting the jury's assessment of the profound and lasting impact of Mr. Brakes' death on his family. The final verdict totaled $14.7 million, with fault apportioned 50 percent to the nursing home licensee and 50 percent to the management company, defendant Watercrest Acquisition I LLC. Judge Peter R. Lopez presided over the case. "Age and frailty do not excuse abuse, nor do they lessen the value of a human life," said Michael Brevda, Esq. of Senior Justice Law Firm. "The jury made that clear with a substantial verdict, despite Mr. Brakes' advanced age and existing health conditions."Why Fault Was Split Between the Operator and Management Company One of the more legally notable aspects of this verdict is the apportionment of liability. The jury assigned equal fault to the nursing home licensee and to Watercrest Acquisition I LLC, the management entity. This is an increasingly common approach in nursing home litigation, where plaintiff attorneys pursue both the licensed operator and the ownership or management structure behind the facility. Management companies that set staffing levels, allocate resources, and establish care policies carry real legal exposure when those decisions contribute to resident harm, even if they never directly provided care to the resident. For plaintiff attorneys tracking elder abuse verdicts in Florida, this split verdict is a meaningful signal about how Miami-Dade juries view the responsibility of corporate operators alongside facility licensees.A Record Verdict with Implications for Florida Elder Care Lead trial counsel Garrick Harding described the verdict as a message to the industry: "This verdict sends a powerful message that nursing homes and their operators will be held fully accountable when they fail to protect their most vulnerable residents." The $14.7 million award is the largest ever returned by a jury against a nursing home in Miami-Dade County, according to Senior Justice Law Firm. Florida has a particularly high concentration of nursing home residents and a documented history of elder care oversight failures. Verdicts of this scale, when they become part of the public record, serve as both accountability and deterrent. For families navigating care decisions for elderly loved ones, the Brakes case is a sobering reminder that facilities have a legal obligation to prevent pressure sores and that failure to meet that obligation can result in serious legal consequences. Plaintiff attorneys who specialize in elder abuse cases can showcase verdicts like this one through their profiles on Major Verdict, the national platform where plaintiff lawyers publicly display their trial records.Conclusion Mr. Brakes was 82 years old with years of life ahead of him. According to the mortality evidence presented at trial, he had more than seven years of expected life remaining when he entered Krystal Bay's care. He developed wounds that should never have reached Stage 4. He underwent amputations. He died. The jury that heard the evidence in Miami-Dade County awarded his six children $14.7 million, more than they asked for, because, in the jury's assessment, the nursing home and its management company were each half responsible for what happened. Verdicts like this one show what juries are willing to award when the evidence is strong and the attorney is prepared. If you or someone you love has been harmed by nursing home neglect, find a plaintiff lawyer on Major Verdict who has the trial record to back it up.