The Cunningham case at a glance
Harrison Gavin Long represented the wife and two daughters of John Cunningham in Cunningham v. New Life Recovery, et al., Santa Cruz County Superior Court Case No. 16CV02213. John, 58, died by suicide in 2015 while in the care of two residential treatment facilities. In May 2019, after a 12-day trial, a Santa Cruz County jury found the facilities negligent and returned an $11,000,000 verdict, the largest facility suicide verdict in California history.
What happened
John was a retired Boeing employee who had struggled with dependence on prescription anti-anxiety medications (benzodiazepines) for several years. He sought help at Narconon Redwood Cliffs, a residential rehab program in Watsonville, which sent him for detox to Bright Futures Recovery in Hollister. He was newly admitted and in the most dangerous phase of treatment. He died by suicide while in the facilities' care.
The treatment facilities
- Bright Futures Recovery, a detox facility in Hollister, California
- Halcyon Horizons, doing business as Narconon Redwood Cliffs, a residential rehab facility in Watsonville, California
Both were sued for wrongful death. Both were represented by their own defense counsel at trial.
The warning signs the facilities were given
This was not a case of a hidden risk. According to the family's evidence, they told the facilities about John's history, including prior suicidal thoughts and psychiatric hospitalizations, and he had been through detox programs before. Withdrawal from benzodiazepines is medically recognized as dangerous. A facility that accepts a patient with that history takes on a clear duty to assess the risk, monitor him, and supervise him.
The failures in care and supervision
The family's case was that the detox facility was poorly run: inexperienced staff, minimal supervision of clients, and no real treatment planning. Neither facility provided the treatment, care, and supervision that a newly admitted detox patient with John's history required. Those failures left him unprotected at exactly the moment the risk was highest.
Why the case was so hard
Wrongful death cases involving suicide are among the hardest cases in civil law to win. The defense playbook is always the same: the death was the person's own act, it was unforeseeable, and nobody else can be blamed for it. Here, the defense also argued that John lacked family support and had a poor prognosis and shortened life expectancy because of his addiction, an argument aimed at shrinking what his life was worth.
Insurers value these claims accordingly, which is why so many families are offered a fraction of what their loss is worth, and why so few of these cases are ever tried to a jury.
The settlement offers before trial
The family served statutory offers under Code of Civil Procedure section 998 to settle with each facility for $1,000,000. Bright Futures Recovery offered $350,000. Narconon Redwood Cliffs offered $100,000. Gavin advised the family that the evidence supported far more, rejected the offers, and took the case to trial.
The 12-day Santa Cruz County trial
The case was tried before the Honorable Paul Burdick in Santa Cruz County Superior Court. Gavin tried it as the family's trial lawyer against lawyers from multiple defense firms. Over 12 days he presented the facilities' own practices, the warning signs they were given, and what they failed to do, and he answered the defense's attempt to blame John and devalue his life.
The jury's $11 million verdict
In May 2019, the jury found the facilities negligent and returned a verdict of $11,000,000 for John's wife and daughters. As reported by Attorney Journals, the jury assigned 85% of the responsibility to the defendants. At the time, it was reported as the largest verdict ever against a California rehab facility, and it remains the benchmark for facility suicide cases in the state.
The case was later recognized as a 2020 Consumer Attorney of the Year finalist by the Consumer Attorneys of California, and Gavin presented it to other trial lawyers through Trial Lawyers University.
What this case shows about facility wrongful death
- A facility's duty rises with what it knows. When a family discloses a history of suicidal thoughts, the facility must act on it.
- Suicide does not automatically break the chain of responsibility. When the harm the facility was supposed to guard against is the harm that happens, a jury can hold the facility accountable.
- Insurers' offers in these cases reflect their assumption that the case will never be tried, not what the case is worth.
If someone you love died in a rehab center, psychiatric hospital, nursing home, or other care facility, read about facility wrongful death cases in California, and see suicide in a care facility. Learn how Gavin approaches trial on the wrongful death trial lawyer page.
A client's story
A member of the family talks about the case and about working with Gavin, and Gavin discusses his approach to the trial.
Independent coverage of the verdict
- Santa Cruz County Trial Lawyers Association: 2019 Civil Jury Verdicts
- The Underground Bunker: “Jury awards $11 million over death of rehab patient”
- Press release: $11 million jury verdict for wife and children of man who died by suicide while in rehab
- Attorney Journals, “Man in the Arena”
- Lawyers of Distinction: H. Gavin Long secures $11 million jury verdict
- Trial Lawyers University: Drug Rehab Suicide $11,000,000 Verdict
- Video: CAOY 2020 Finalist – Cunningham v. Narconon Redwood Cliffs and Bright Futures Recovery
Gavin Long tried this case as a partner and trial lawyer at Bisnar | Chase. “Largest facility suicide verdict in California history” is based on published verdict reports, including Attorney Journals' description of the verdict as the largest at the time against a California rehab facility. Facts on this page are drawn from the public record and published reports listed above. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.