On Sept. 8, 2015, plaintiff’s decedent Olivia Deloney, 88, a resident within the dementia unit of The Point at Rockridge, a 196-bed licensed assisted living facility in Oakland, tried to get away from a 67-year-old man with early onset dementia who was stalking her. While within the dementia unit, the man knocked Deloney to the ground, causing her to break her hip. The staff subsequently called for an ambulance, but did not separate the man from Deloney even though they knew he had knocked her down. As a result, the man tried to kick Deloney in the head while the paramedics were tending to her. Deloney was admitted to Kaiser Medical Center, where she underwent hip repair surgery. She was then returned to The Point, in part, because The Point’s Executive Director Kirsten Korfhage told Deloney’s daughter, plaintiff Simone Stevens, that they had no idea that the man was going to do something like that and that he had been removed from the facility. Although Deloney was unsteady on her feet and disoriented after the previous incident, The Point’s management did not instruct the staff to take precautions to prevent another fall. As a result, Deloney got out of bed after being left unattended in her room, fell, and broke the same hip. A second surgery was then performed to repair the damage, but it was not successful, and Deloney was allegedly left immobile and in constant pain. Deloney had been conversant and ambulatory prior to the assault. However, she quickly became bed bound and despondent, and stopped eating after the second fall. She ultimately died of severe calorie restriction two months later, on Dec. 5, 2015. Deloney’s daughter, Simone Stevens, acting individually and as trustee of the Deloney Survivors Trust (which was set up on behalf of Deloney), sued the operator of The Point at Rockridge, CRP Gilbert Street, LLC; the companies that managed the assisted living facility, Integral Senior Living, LLC and Integral Senior Living Management LLC; and The Point’s executive director, Kirsten Korfhage. Stevens alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted recklessness and/or willful neglect of an elderly adult, in violation of the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, and that the defendants’ actions cause Deloney’s wrongful death. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that Korfhage admitted the assailant in the first place and retained him as a resident after he threatened and assaulted Korfhage’s staff members. However, Korfhage was ultimately dismissed from the case prior to trial in exchange for a cost waiver. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that the assailant’s wife had told The Point all about the man’s history of anger and physical aggression — including pushing, shoving, kicking, and following too closely — before the defendants admitted him to The Point. Thus, counsel asserted that the man should have been disqualified from being admitted to the assisted living facility under The Point’s own admission policies due to the lack of staffing to deal with that type of individual. However, counsel asserted that at the time the man was admitted, The Point was having a problem filling its beds, so it charged the man’s wife two times what Deloney was paying, but did not hire additional staff to supervise the man. Plaintiffs’ counsel further contended that, based on interviews with former employees, soon after the man was admitted to The Point, he engaged in the very behavior that made him inappropriate for admission to begin with, including striking caregivers. Counsel asserted that The Point should have reported all such incidents to the state licensing agency, by law, but that it didn’t do that in a deliberate cover up that left no paper trail of the incidents, as “if it’s not documented, it didn’t happen,” just in case the state came calling or the man injured another resident. However, plaintiff’s counsel contended that text messages between the wife of the assailant and the Memory Care Director created a paper trial of some of the incidents. The Alameda County Superior Court ordered the release of a redacted set of the man’s records. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that, based on the released records, it was shown that The Point’s memory care director, Amy Lund, was responsible for vetting the man for admission and for monitoring his behavior after admission and that she ignored repeated complaints from staff about the man’s behavior. Counsel also contended that Lund was fired from her prior job for refusing to take a drug test after being suspected of being high at work, that she had been suspended from The Point twice on suspicion of stealing medications and brought back to work, and that she died of a drug overdose six months after Deloney’s death, after having been at work at The Point all day. Defense counsel asserted that it was never established that Lund, deceased at time of trial, was high at work or had been fired for drug issues, that the claims against Lung were merely unsubstantiated allegations, and that the evidence was to the contrary. Defense counsel asserted that the defendants did not know the assailant was a danger to others and that the man just engaged in normal dementia behavior, which was a known risk of living in a dementia care facility. Counsel also contended that the staff did not witness the alleged incident, so they did not know that Deloney had been knocked down by a resident, and that, consequently, the staff saw no need to separate the residents after the incident. Counsel further contended that plaintiffs’ counsel never established that The Point’s staff was made aware of the man’s alleged history of kicking and shoving before the incident with Deloney. In addition, defense counsel contended that before his admission, a physician determined that the assailant was an appropriate resident for an assisted living facility. Defense counsel asserted that The Point was not having a “problem” filling its beds and that it was never established that there was a lack of staffing before the incident. Counsel also asserted that there was never any obligation to report the man’s alleged aggressive behavior to the state and that the state investigated the incident and did not find fault with The Point. In addition, defense counsel contended that the state did not find that the man was improperly admitted or retained as a resident, and asserted that even Deloney, at times, engaged in “aggressive” behaviors., Deloney suffered a fracture of a hip. She was subsequently treated by paramedics and admitted to Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, in Oakland, where she underwent hip repair surgery that same day (Sept. 8, 2015). She was then returned to The Point on Oct. 3, 2015. However, while she left unattended in her room, Deloney got out of bed and fell, fracturing the same hip. As a result, she underwent a second surgery, but it was unsuccessful and Deloney was allegedly left immobile and in constant pain. Deloney’s daughter, Stevens, claimed that her mother had been conversant and ambulatory prior to the assault, but that she quickly became bed bound and despondent. She also claimed that Deloney stopped eating. Deloney ultimately died of severe calorie restriction two months later, on Dec. 5, 2015. She was 88 years old. Stevens was Deloney’s only child. She claimed that she was extremely close with her mother. Thus, Stevens sought recovery of wrongful death damages. She also sought recovery for her loss of consortium and her mother’s pre-death pain and suffering. Defense counsel contended that Deloney died as a result of the natural progression of her disease processes, and not from being injured.