Precedent? $1 Million Wrongful Death Award Upheld for Post-Hurricane Katrina Nursing Home Death
As investigations begin into the report of 8 deaths of residents at a single nursing home in Broward County Florida three days after the region was impacted by Hurricane Irma, it occurred to me to look into post-Katrina legal proceedings involving nursing homes.
It turns out that very recently, in June 2017, the Louisiana Court of Appeals (4th Circuit) affirmed an award of $1,000,000 in damages for pain and suffering arising from one elderly woman’s death at a nursing home four days after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005. The nursing home argued comparative fault on the part of the Corp of Engineers for its “negligent design, construction and maintenance of” flood control systems in the region. The Court of Appeals rejected the nursing home’s arguments regarding “non-party fault” (emphasis added below):
Following our de novo review of the proffered and record evidence regarding non-party fault, we cannot say that but-for the conduct of the Corps of Engineers, Ms. Robinette would not have died from heat stroke on the second floor of Lafon five days after the City of New Orleans had issued a mandatory evacuation order.
The record shows that flooding at Lafon was not the cause-in-fact of Ms. Robinette’s death. Only one foot of water entered the building, and that water receded quickly. Ms. Robinette was not harmed by the flood water. Ms. Robinette’s cause of death was heat stroke and dehydration due to her exposure to sweltering heat for four days. And Ms. Robinette’s exposure to those extreme heat conditions was caused by Lafon’s refusal to follow its own Evacuation Plan, and by the inadequacy of Lafon’s backup emergency power generator. But for Lafon’s substandard conduct, Ms. Robinette would not have succumbed to heat stroke caused by the lack of electrical power.
Because the Corps of Engineers’ conduct was not the cause-in-fact of Ms. Robinette’s death, we find no fault by the Corps.