Family gets $77M verdict in Georgia after death of man ousted from addiction center
The family of a Huntersville, N.C., man was awarded $77 million recently by a Georgia jury in a case against an addiction treatment facility blamed for death.
Nicholas Carusillo, 29, was killed in 2017 after he was forced out of a mental health facility in Georgia without his medication, according to a news release from the law firm representing the family, DGL Attorneys at Law in Atlanta. Less than three days after he was released, he died after being hit by several vehicles as he laid naked in a fetal position on Interstate 85 outside of Atlanta.
Carusillo was the father of a 5-year-old and was actively seeking treatment and medication for bipolar disorder and substance use disorder at MARR Addiction Treatment Center in Doraville, Ga.
His family sued MARR two years after Carusillo died. The trial lasted three weeks and resulted in what the law firm calls a “record setting” verdict for a case in Georgia. The jury determined the center and some of its named caretakers were negligent and that their negligence caused Carusillo’s death.
Cellphones were prohibited at the treatment center where Carusillo was staying, and he was kicked out of the center for violating this rule. While the jury found the center guilty of negligence, it found that there was no specific intent to harm Carusillo.
