Published Appellate Win Kept Memory-Care Elder-Abuse Case Before a Jury, Which Later Returned $20.58 Million

Theresa Donahue moved into MuirWoods Memory Care in Petaluma in July 2020. The residential facility, owned by MBK Senior Living, held 39 residents and was regulated as a residential care facility for the elderly, not as a licensed medical facility. Donahue had dementia and required close supervision to move safely.

Over roughly two months in early 2021 she fell four times. The first, on January 15, left a significant bruise. A second fall on March 1 produced a large hematoma at the back of her head. She fell again on March 18 and was found on the floor without timely assistance. On March 20 she fell a fourth time while walking unattended, fracturing her hip. The fracture required surgery. After it she became bedridden, and her physical and mental condition declined sharply. She died on April 15, 2022.

Her children, Kellie Tennier and Raymond Donahue, sued MuirWoods, MBK Senior Living, and related corporate entities for elder abuse, negligence, and wrongful death. The central theory at trial was chronic understaffing: records showed only four caregivers covering morning and evening shifts for 39 residents. State inspectors who visited in August 2021 documented that the facility had 'insufficient staffing to meet residents' needs.' Plaintiffs also showed that MuirWoods had a 45-page fall-prevention policy that its own clinical care director did not know existed, and that the company destroyed staff schedules and assignment sheets after receiving a litigation-hold letter.

Kirsten Fish of Needham Kepner and Fish was counsel of record for the family early in the litigation. In 2021, when MBK tried to force the case into arbitration, Fish represented the family on appeal, and the California Court of Appeal rejected that effort in a published opinion, 73 Cal.App.5th 18, holding that a family member without a power of attorney cannot waive a resident's right to a jury trial. That ruling kept the case in front of a jury. The matter was tried by Karman Guadagni and Kelsey Craven of Stebner Gertler Guadagni and Kawamoto.

In April 2024 a Sonoma County jury returned a verdict of $20,580,136.34 for the plaintiffs. The jury found 12-0 on the elder-abuse claim, 11-1 on negligence, and 10-2 on wrongful death. It also found that MBK had acted with recklessness and oppression, triggering punitive damages of $17 million. Judge Oscar Pardo denied MBK's motion for a new trial on July 25, 2024. With attorney fees and costs, the total judgment reached $24,645,205.14. The Press Democrat described it as among the largest Sonoma County judgments in decades.