Jury Awards $110M After 100-Year-Old Alzheimer’s Resident Freezes Outside Locked Care Facility

Sacramento, CA — A California jury has awarded $110 million to the family of a 100-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s disease who died after wandering outside her senior care facility and becoming trapped in the cold.

Mildred Hernandez, who had lived at Greenhaven Estates in Sacramento for more than five years, died in February 2019 after leaving the building in the early morning hours. According to court filings, she exited the facility shortly before 6 a.m. through a door that automatically locked behind her, preventing her from getting back inside.

Temperatures that morning were around 38 degrees.

Hernandez was discovered outside the building near the exit door. Attorneys said she had fallen and appeared to have crawled across the courtyard before succumbing to the cold.

Emergency responders transported her to a nearby hospital, where doctors reported that she was unresponsive and cold to the touch. Medical staff were unable to obtain a pulse or body temperature, and she was pronounced dead at 7:30 a.m., according to court records.

Claims of Inadequate Supervision

The lawsuit argued that staff at the facility were aware Hernandez was at significant risk of wandering but failed to provide proper supervision or safeguards.

According to the complaint, Hernandez required consistent assistance because her Alzheimer’s disease left her unable to care for herself independently. Staff members had documented that she frequently became confused about the time of day, needed redirection, and faced a high risk of falling.

Despite those concerns, attorneys said she was last checked on around 1 a.m. the morning of her death and may have been outside for several hours before being discovered.

The case went to trial in Sacramento Superior Court in January before Judge Jeffrey Galvin.

After roughly four and a half days of deliberation, the jury found Formation Capital and Colony Capital liable for neglect and wrongful death. Jurors ultimately awarded Hernandez’s family $110 million in damages.

The verdict underscores ongoing scrutiny of safety practices in long-term care facilities, particularly for residents living with dementia who face a heightened risk of wandering.