Texas Jury Returns $160 Million Verdict for Vicious Beating of 81-Year-Old Nursing Home Resident by Violent Roommate

Ricky Bagolie

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A San Antonio jury has returned a verdict $160 million in favor of the family of Tranquilino Mendoza, an 81-year-old man who was viciously beaten by a mentally disturbed roommate at the Comanche Trail Nursing Center in 1997.

The jury found that Summit Care Corp., its Texas affiliate, and two of its employees shared responsibility for this particularly brutal beating and its aftermath. Mr. Mendoza survived the attack but died less than three years later from unrelated causes. The evidence at trial showed that Mendoza's roommate had been involved in some 30 assaults prior to his being moved in with the elderly Mendoza on September 26, 1997.

Very often, these assaults can be prevented with adequate training and staffing but Nursing Homes choose to cut these areas to make more profits.