Harris County Jury Awards $7.1 Million to Nursing Assistant Injured During Bariatric Patient Transfer

In May 2016, Nicole Tarpley was working as a certified nursing assistant at the Courtyards of Pasadena, a Pasadena, Texas rehabilitation and nursing facility owned by Red Bluff LLC. During her shift, she was tasked with moving a bariatric patient, who weighed somewhere between 300 and 400 pounds, from a bed to a wheelchair. As she positioned the patient, the wheelchair's brakes failed. Both Tarpley and the patient fell to the floor. Tarpley sustained serious injuries to her neck and spine that ultimately required surgery.

Tarpley sued Red Bluff LLC, which did not subscribe to the Texas workers' compensation system. Her legal team at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz and Stogner took the case to trial in Harris County's 55th District Court in late 2021.

At trial, the firm concentrated on two failures by the facility. First, the nursing home had not trained Tarpley or its other aides on the specific transfer protocol required for patients of that size and physical condition. Second, the facility had not adequately inspected or maintained its wheelchairs, leaving defective brakes undetected and unrepaired before they were put to use in a high-risk transfer. Defense counsel, from Mullin Hoard and Brown in Dallas, contested liability and attributed the incident to Tarpley herself.

The jury rejected the defense position entirely. In December 2021, it returned a verdict of $7.1 million covering past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and physical impairment. The award was more than 50 times the amount Red Bluff had offered to settle before trial.

After the verdict, Red Bluff's lead counsel missed the 30-day window to file post-judgment motions, claiming he had not actually read the clerk's email notice of judgment until weeks after it arrived. The trial court denied an extension. The Fourteenth Court of Appeals affirmed that denial in August 2023. The Texas Supreme Court reversed in May 2025, holding that an unread email in counsel's inbox did not constitute 'actual knowledge' of the judgment under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 306a, and remanded the case to the trial court so Red Bluff's post-judgment motions could be heard on the merits. As of that ruling, the underlying $7.1 million verdict had not been reduced or vacated.