Baltimore, Maryland

A Montgomery County jury has returned a $4 million verdict for two sisters whose mother left a Maryland assisted living facility through an unsecured first-floor window and died of hypothermia about 80 feet from the building. Brown & Barron trial attorneys Christopher J. Smith and Nicole Lambdin tried the case in Montgomery County Circuit Court, where the jury returned its verdict on the estate and wrongful death claims in October.

The sisters came to the United States from Nigeria with their mother when they were 14. A few years later, their mother developed a serious mental illness. When her daughters could no longer keep her safe at home, they placed her in an assisted living facility.

She had left the facility unsupervised before. In January 2022, she walked out again, this time through a first-floor window that was not secured, and disappeared. She was missing for three days. A neighbor found her body in his snow-covered backyard. She was wearing only thin pajamas and had died of hypothermia.

“It was important to us to tell their mother’s story, to speak her name in a courtroom, and to help the jury understand her life and everything her daughters lost,” said Smith, who chairs the firm’s nursing home litigation practice. “These young women deserved to have their mother’s story heard and someone to advocate for them. They showed tremendous courage in sharing their loss. We hope this verdict will bring about meaningful change and spur Maryland lawmakers to require assisted living facilities to carry adequate liability insurance and strengthen regulation and oversight to protect residents. Honoring her memory means working toward a future in which other families are spared this preventable tragedy.”

Maryland does not require assisted living facilities to carry liability insurance. Lawmakers took a first step this year with the Nyeli Rose Lewis Act of 2026, enacted in April, which requires nursing homes and assisted living facilities without professional liability coverage to tell residents in writing. The law does not require facilities to buy that coverage. Without it, families who win in court may have little chance of collecting.

“For our clients, this verdict represents far more than a legal victory. They lost their mother in a tragic and entirely preventable way, and while nothing can undo that loss, we hope this verdict brings them some measure of peace in knowing that their mother’s life mattered and that those responsible have been held accountable,” said Lambdin. “Their mother deserved to be safe and cared for, and her daughters deserved to know that she was protected.”

Lambdin said the case carries a lesson beyond one family.

“This case should also serve as a broader reminder: assisted living facilities care for some of the most vulnerable members of our communities. Maryland families should be able to place their loved ones in these facilities with confidence. And when facilities fail in that duty, adequate liability insurance is critical to making accountability real and giving families a meaningful chance to seek justice.”

Brown & Barron, LLC is a Baltimore-based trial firm that represents families across Maryland in nursing home abuse and neglect, medical malpractice and birth injury cases. The firm's attorneys try cases in court and work with in-house nurses and medical experts to build each claim from the medical record. Its nursing home practice covers falls, bed sores, choking, malnutrition and elopement, and the firm also handles wrongful death, medication error and brain injury cases. Brown & Barron's mission is to restore lives and restore justice for people harmed by negligent care. The firm offers free consultations. To learn more, visit brownbarron.com or call 410-547-0202.

Brown & Barron, LLC
7 St Paul Street Suite 800, Baltimore, MD 21202
410-547-0202
https://www.brownbarron.com/
Press Contact : Leah K. Barron

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