A developer and its principal are the targets, along with an assisted living facility, of two lawsuits filed by resident family members who are alleging understaffing and negligence.
Developer Celadon Holding and its principal, Scott Henry, are being sued along with New City Supportive Living in Chicago by families who claim that their loved ones, who are living with dementia, were permitted to wander into unsafe situations and that they lived in “totally undignified conditions,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The families of the two residents have moved them to other facilities.
Paul Stewart, spokesman for the property and the developer, told the McKnight’s Business Daily that he does not know why the developer is being sued along with the assisted living facility.
“The developer doesn’t oversee the day-to-day operations on the property. The management firms are the ones,” he said.
Stewart said that in both instances, the families had been notified previously that the residents’ cognitive states were declining and that they needed a level of care not provided at New City Supportive Living, which is an assisted living facility, not a memory care facility, and does not have a locked unit.
“The cases are the same [in nature]. They’re basically saying that the residents were allowed to move around independently,” Stewart said. “One had left the building and another one had walked into a utility closet and was found sitting in a utility closet some hours later.”
Stewart said the company is still investigating the allegations made in the complaints.
“We run an assisted living facility. We’re obviously very concerned about our residents,” he said, adding that when the company notices that a resident is in decline, family members are consulted. “Their care and safety is our primary concern.”
Stewart noted that both lawsuits alleging understaffing and negligence were filed last week and allege that instances occurred “several” years ago. “It’s kind of coincidental that they’re coming at the same time. It’s all very strange,” he said.
In the first lawsuit, Stewart said, the assisted living provider was working with the family through an insurance provider to help with relocation costs. “In the second lawsuit, we weren’t aware. Other than them coming in to move the resident, we thought that was it,” he said.
“Our teams are continuing to do their own investigations, along with the insurance companies and the former and the current management firms working in concert to gather all the relevant details for the suit,” Stewart said.
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