Florida Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit Results in $200M Verdict

A Florida jury has awarded $200 million to the family of a 92-year-old woman who was trapped for an hour at the bottom of a nursing home stairwell before dying. 

The nursing home negligence lawsuit was filed by the family of Elvira Nunziata against Pinellas Park Care and Rehabilitation Center and Trans Health Management Inc., which ran the facility.

According to the complaint, Nunziata, who was wheelchair bound and suffered from dementia, fell down the stairwell in her chair in October 2004.

The lawsuit alleges that as a result of neglect by the nursing home, no one noticed that Nunziata had gone missing for an hour before she was found at the bottom of the stairwell, despite alarms on her clothing and on the emergency door. She was still strapped into her wheelchair when she was found. Paramedics were called but she died shortly after they arrived on the scene.

The Pinellas County jury deliberated for less than an hour before awarding Nunziata’s son and estate $60 million in compensatory damages and $140 million in punitive damages. The verdict is one of the largest nursing home negligence lawsuit awards, if not the largest, in Florida history.

Nunziata had wandered away from a group of residents. She was known to wander and had previously suffered falls and other injuries. Former workers at the nursing home testified that the facility suffered from understaffing at the time of the accident.

Trans Health Management Inc. no longer manages the facility. It is unclear whether the company intends to appeal the verdict.