$7.75 Million Awarded in California Nursing Home Abuse Case
A California jury awarded Maria Arellano $7.75 million in her case against the Fillmore Convalescent Center, which included $5 million in punitive damages.
Reportedly, the seventy-one year old woman, who was unable to speak or walk due to a stroke, was abused during her residency at the facility. A film was produced at trial that showed Monica Garcia, an employee of the facility, slapping Ms. Arellano, pulling her hair, treating her violently while sitting in a shower seat, and roughly handing her neck and hands. Ms. Arellano's attorneys produced evidence that the facility had been notified in writing of the abuse by more than one family and with at least one party naming Ms. Garcia as the abuser. Both the facility and its owner admitted that Garcia's actions were "so horrible that they exceeded the scope of her employment". Garcia herself admitted to physically abusing Ms. Arellano only on the occasion captured on videotape.
