Family awarded $110M after dementia patient died outside Sacramento care home
A Sacramento jury awarded $110 million to the family of a dementia patient who died of hypothermia after wandering outside a Pocket-area assisted living facility in 2019.
Mildred Hernandez was living at Greenhaven Estates, located at 7548 Greenhaven Drive, when she left the building during the early morning hours of Feb. 12, 2019, according to a lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court in 2020. Around 6 a.m., Hernandez was found outside near an exit door that had automatically locked behind her, preventing her from getting back inside, the lawsuit said.
An autopsy later determined Hernandez died of hypothermia, the lawsuit alleged.
“Mildred Hernandez’s known wandering was not stated in written assessments or reappraisals of her condition, nor was this risk of harm identified or addressed in Mildred Hernandez’ individualized care plan with meaningful interventions to prevent her from harm,” the complaint said.
The judgment was issued against Digitalbridge Group, formerly known as Colony Capital, and Formation Capital, which owned the facility at the time of Hernandez’s death. Neither company responded to emails seeking comment.
“Corporations who reap the profits of operations of facilities like Greenhaven Estates must be held to account when they fail to do their jobs,” said Ed Dudensing, the family’s attorney, in an email. “We are proud to have secured this outcome for the Hernandez family and remain steadfast in advocating for the rights and protections of vulnerable individuals.”
Dudensing said Hernandez’s four adult daughters will receive the $110 million award, which was handed down by Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Galvin.
However, there are still hurdles before the daughters can receive that money, said Mark Merin, a longtime Sacramento civil rights attorney.
The judge could reduce the amount of the judgment or set the case for another trial, Merin said. The companies also could declare bankruptcy.
“Often times, nursing home companies have several layers of protection, so they’ll have a little corporation that holds one home and it’s isolated so, if they get a bad verdict, they can just fold and the people who got the judgment don’t collect anything,” Merin said. “They often don’t have insurance. The state is failing to regulate them.”
Merin said he was unaware of a Sacramento jury awarding a judgment that large in recent memory.
In 2017, a federal jury awarded over $100 million to two gravel mining families who alleged Sacramento County had caused them to have to close their business to benefit a rival company.
The facility is now called Spanish Vines Assisted Living and Memory Care, according to its website. An LLC called 7548 Greenhaven Drive Holdings LLC, in care of CW Capital Asset Management, acquired the property in 2024, according to the Sacramento County Assessor’s Office.
Although Sacramento has triple-digit summers, nighttime temperatures can drop into the 40s — cold enough to cause fatal hypothermia, especially in older adults.
The next court hearing in the case is set for March 19, according to court records, on the companies’ request to stay the judgment.
This story was originally published March 6, 2026 at 7:00 AM.
