Jan. 17—The family of a 97-year-old woman who was found dead outside a Louisville assisted living facility last year has filed a lawsuit claiming the staff failed to properly monitor and care for the resident as she became locked outside for five hours and froze to death within sight of an empty nurses station.
Mary Jo Staub was found dead outside Lavender Farms, which is run by Balfour Senior Living, on Feb. 26, prompting an investigation by the Louisville Police Department.
While no criminal charges were ultimately filed, the family of Staub on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in Boulder District Court naming Balfour, Balfour CEO Michael Schonbrun and the two Lavender Farms employees on duty that night, Aracelli Hernandez and Heidi Arreola.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the family by the Hailey —Hart law firm out of Denver.
"We are honored to represent the Staub family," the firm said in a statement. "Mary Jo was deeply loved. Her life was tragically cut short. Assisted living facilities are supposed to provide protective oversight for our elderly loved ones. The Staub family wants to ensure this doesn't happen to any other member of this vulnerable population."
Officials with Balfour Senior Living did not return requests for comment.
According to the lawsuit, "Balfour wholly failed to provide Mary Jo the requisite services needed to keep her safe. Due to Balfour's extreme elder neglect and abuse, Mary Jo became trapped outside Lavender Farms in freezing temperatures the night of Feb. 26, 2022. Mary Jo is seen on surveillance footage at 12:40 a.m. banging on the glass panes of the French doors located directly adjacent to the nurses' station for help. No one at Balfour found Mary Jo outside until 5:51 a.m. She had frozen to death. The nurses' station remained empty for approximately five hours and 42 minutes."
In addition, the lawsuit alleges that "In the days and weeks following Mary Jo's untimely and avoidable death, Balfour employees fed lies and misleading statements to the Louisville Police Department to avoid criminal charges. Many of those lies and misleading statements concerned the actions and statements of the Staub family prior to Mary Jo's death. Such lies and misleading statements were outrageous and caused the Staub family to suffer extreme emotional distress."
According to the lawsuit, Staub was accepted into Lavender Farms in April 2019, with the family saying that the facility promised 24-hour onsite supervision, nighttime safety checks and an individualized care plan that would be updated as Staub's needs changed. The lawsuit stated Staub "was healthy for her age" upon moving in but sometimes exhibited memory loss, confusion and disorientation.
Staub was assigned "basic" level of care, the lowest level of care offered by Lavender Farms. In April 2021, the facility determined Staub needed more care and elevated her to "Level 1." On Nov. 15, the lawsuit stated Staub experienced disorientation overnight, and it was recommended her nighttime checks be increased.
But the lawsuit states that the change was not added to Staub's plan, and on Nov. 17 Staub fell overnight and was not found until her daughter came in the morning to check on her. Staub was checked into a hospital with a fractured pelvis and then went to a rehab facility and then skilled nursing care.
Staub returned to Lavender Farms in January 2022 under "Level 2" status after the family said the facility agreed to more frequent checks and more attention. The family said they were paying $1,500 plus rent per month for this plan.
"The Staub family relied on these promises when they decided to move Mary Jo back into Lavender Farms," the lawsuits stated.
An independent nurse practitioner who evaluated Staub upon her return told the facility that Staub needed to be checked on throughout the night for sleepwalking, and that Staub "had a history of weakness and episodes of confusion."
According to the lawsuit, the family was told that Lavender Farms would provide 24-hour supervision and safety checks every four hours between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
On the afternoon of Feb. 25, Staub experienced confusion and hallucination, and was visited by the independent nurse practitioner. The practitioner said Staub was lucid when she arrived, but she informed the nurses' station of the incident.
At 7:31 p.m., Hernandez saw that Staub was again confused and hallucinating, but Lavender Farms did not notify her family.
Sometime later that night, Staub wandered outside the facility with her walker and was immediately locked out while wearing only pajamas, a robe, boot and gloves. Temperatures in Boulder County that weekend had been freezing, with highs in the 30s and overnight lows in the single digits.
According to the lawsuit, the investigation found Staub walked around the building looking for help, injuring her ankle and abandoning her walker. She was able to crawl 75 feet, leaving a trail of blood in the snow, to an exit next to a nurses' station where "she could have been seen by anyone walking inside the facility near or past the glass-paned French doors."
The lawsuit states surveillance shows Staub reached the doors at 12:40 a.m. "exhausted, terrified and literally freezing" but nobody visited or walked past the nurses station until 5:51 a.m. and nobody was monitoring the security feed.
"Not a single Balfour employee noticed Mary Jo was locked out of the facility," the lawsuit read. "Not a single Balfour employee was present to help Mary Jo in any way."
According to the lawsuit, surveillance footage shows Staub pounding on the glass with her hands and a broom she had found for an hour before she collapsed. She was found by Hernandez at 5:52 a.m. "dead and frozen in the snow" and paramedics began performing CPR after Balfour employees failed to notify them of Staub's "do not resuscitate" order.
Staub was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy determined the cause of death was hypothermia.
Surveillance video shows another resident also wandered outside the facility at 4:40 a.m. before being found at 5:47 a.m., though that resident survived.
According to the lawsuit, Balfour employees following the death "lied to police and omitted material information to avoid criminal charges," including stating that Staub's family did not ask for nighttime supervision or only required one check per night, and claiming that Staub herself canceled the checks.
Arreola, who along with Hernandez was one of two employees working that night, said she checked in Staub at midnight, but the lawsuit states surveillance footage shows her leaving the facility at 11:57 p.m. and returning at 1:04 a.m.
The lawsuit also states Sarah Krus, Lavender Farm's director of health and wellness, told police she had a conversation with Staub's family on Feb. 21 about eliminating the nighttime checks that the family said was "a complete fabrication."
