BILLINGS - Attorneys made their opening statements Monday in a federal case in Billings where family members are alleging improper treatment of residents at Canyon Creek Memory Care Community.
COVID-19 took a devastating toll across Montana, and Canyon Creek was among the facilities hardest hit.
Watch Canyon Creek lawsuit story here:
Seventeen residents at Canyon Creek died during an outbreak here in 2020.
“The families weren't allowed in,” said John Heenan, a Billings attorney representing three families. “They didn't know what was going on."
The lawsuit is against Canyon Creek and its parent company, Koelsch Senior Communities, LLC.
The allegations were that their family members were not receiving adequate care. Some were found dehydrated, some had bedsores, and the plaintiffs allege the facility was understaffed.
“A lot of these people needed help to eat and couldn't do it by themselves,” Heenan said.
Heenan also says the patients lost significant weight because they weren't getting help to eat.
“And the evidence is going to be that they were starving in their rooms without getting the care that they needed,” he said. “Nobody was checking in on them.”
One of Canyon Creek's attorneys, Gary Kalkstein, declined an on-camera interview.
Defense attorneys told the jury in opening statements that three residents had incurable late-stage illnesses that were diagnosed years before arriving at the facility.
The defense also argues Canyon Creek followed all state and federal COVID guidelines, and care was provided, though some documentation may have been incomplete.
But families say there were problems even before COVID.
In 2022, Misty Mitchell described what happened to her father, Robert Peterson, who had Parkinson's and dementia.
“This was prior to COVID, where he would be sitting in feces,” Mitchell said “He would be in his clothes just filthy.”
Peterson died in 2020 at the age of 74.
Heenan says the case is a contract dispute.
Families each paid a $2,000 nonrefundable move-in fee and about $6,000 a month for care.
“For a lot of people, this is their life savings that gets drained in the last few months of their life by these facilities, which is fine,” Heenan said. “But do the job that you promised to do. ”
The trial is expected to include testimony from medical experts, staff, and family members in the coming days.
