Before entrusting their eighty-seven year-old family member to the facility's care the family met with the nursing facility's administrator to stress the importance of security and to obtain his assurances that secure care was available and would be provided.

However, soon after the resident

One day he wandered away. He was struck by a truck and killed in an intersection five miles from the facility.

The jury in the Superior Court, Los Angeles County, California awarded the family $1,480,000 from the facility. The verdict included compensation for the family's loss as well as punitive damages for recklessness, consumer fraud and elder abuse. Wilson v. Son, 2008 WL 4223607 (Sup. Ct. Los Angeles Co., California, May 27, 2008).