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ARTICLE ID 29214
$________ - GROUP HOME NEGLIGENCE - RESIDENT DROWNS IN BATHTUB WHILE IN CARE OF RESIDENCE'S EMPLOYEE - ABUSE, NEGLECT AND CONSUMER FRAUD ALLEGED - NEGLIGENT HIRING, TRAINING AND SUPERVISION - BREACH OF CONTRACT - NEGLIGENT MISREPRESENTATION - WRONGFUL DEATH.
Maricopa County, Arizona
The plaintiff parents contended that the defendant group home was
liable for the death of their daughter, a severely
developmentally disabled person who was living at the defendants
group home at the time. The plaintiff maintained that the
decedent was negligently left alone in a filled bathtub at the
group home resulting in her drowning.
The evidence showed that the decedent, Ilana Solomon, was a
severely developmentally disabled person entitled to receive
social services from the State of Arizona and/or DDD under
Arizona law. DDD contracted with a service provider defendant DSI
(later acquired by AHS), to provide 24-hour care for Ilana
Solomon. In September ________, DSI recommended a caregiver named
Catherine Cash to manage Ilanas group home and to provide care
for Ilana. Unbeknownst to Ilanas family, Ms. Cash had been
designated ineligible for rehire in ________ and ________, had been fired
in ________, and had received an Employee Counseling Notice (written
warning) for advising a resident to hit another individual in
________. She was placed on probation in July ________ and was on
probation at the time she was recommended for Ilanas care.
Further, the plaintiffs contended that DSI knew that Catherine
Cashs CPR training had expired when it allowed Catherine Cash to
begin caring for Ilana.
Due to understaffing at DSI and the need to find a new location
for Catherine Cash, the plaintiffs contended that DSI misled the
Solomons into accepting Cash as Ilanas caregiver. Ilanas
parents were not informed of all variables concerning this
caregiver and agreed to allow Cash to act as manager and
caregiver in the group home.
On November 20, ________, Ilana Solomon was abandoned by Ms. Cash in
a filled bathtub for up to thirty minutes where she drowned. The
plaintiffs brought suit alleging wrongful death, negligence,
abuse, breach of contract, fraud, negligent hiring, training and
supervision and violations of the states consumer fraud act.
The defendants admitted that the caregivers history of prior
abandonment should have resulted in termination. The plaintiffs
were able to establish that Ms. Cash had previously abandoned
three developmentally disabled residents in a van a year earlier
in an incident that the company failed to investigate. During the
trial, DSI admitted that the prior abandonment should have
resulted in termination. Prior to trial, the defendants admitted
liability for abuse and wrongful death. During trial, the
defendants admitted liability for negligent hiring, training and
supervision when they failed to terminate the caregiver after the
van abandonment and when they failed to monitor the terms of her
probation.
The trial lasted ten days. The jury deliberated for 4= hours
before rendering its unanimous verdict in favor of the plaintiff
and against the defendant. The jury found for Plaintiffs on all
claims. The jury awarded the estate the sum of $________, the 9 3
father the sum of $________ and the mother the sum of
$________. The State of Arizona is jointly and severally liable
for the verdict on the theory it had a non-delegable duty to
provide care.
5 ways to win with JVRA
JVRA gives you jurisdiction-specific, year-round insight into the strategies, arguments and tactics that win. Successful attorneys come to the table prepared and use JVRA to:
- Determine if a case is winnable and recovery amounts.
- Determine reasonable demand for a case early on.
- Support a settlement demand by establishing precedent.
- Research trial strategies, tactics and arguments.
- Defeat or support post-trial motions through past case histories.
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