$15 Million Verdict Against Billings Memory Care Facility Over COVID-19 Neglect Deaths

Canyon Creek Memory Care in Billings, Montana housed residents with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, a population that cannot advocate for itself when care breaks down. In the summer of 2020, a COVID-19 outbreak swept through the facility. Seventeen residents died. Two families, representing Mary Simons and Robert Petersen, eventually brought federal claims arguing that inadequate staffing levels and neglected basic care made those deaths foreseeable and preventable.

The lawsuit named both Canyon Creek Memory Care and its Washington-based parent, Koelsch Senior Communities. Plaintiffs alleged that management decisions on staffing at the corporate level directly shaped conditions on the floor when the outbreak hit. A third family, that of Elizabeth Guilford, was also part of the suit, but the jury declined to find the facility acted dishonestly regarding that resident's outbreak disclosure.

Billings attorney John Heenan represented the families through nearly five years of litigation. Judge Susan Watters of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana presided over what Heenan described as a case generating more pretrial motions than any she had seen filed by Canyon Creek. The jury deliberated for nearly ten hours, from Wednesday night into Thursday, before returning its verdict.

The panel found Canyon Creek Memory Care liable for a combined $265,200 and Koelsch Senior Communities liable for roughly $15.2 million, with the awards including punitive damages. The combined verdict reached about $15 million across the two prevailing plaintiffs.

As of the date of the verdict, no appellate reduction had been reported.