The Echo Park facility has reached a settlement with the parents of a 27-year-old man who died of a fentanyl overdose at their drug and alcohol recovery center in 2020.
Plaintiffs Jon Kent Zediker and Kathleen Ennis filed a wrongful death suit in Los Angeles Superior Court in February 2021 against the Dream Center Foundation, the operator of the Bellevue Avenue residential facility. The Dream Center is associated with the Angelus Temple, a Pentecostal house of worship affiliated with the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.
An attorney for the couple recently filed court papers informing Judge Lisa R. Jaskol that the case has been resolved. The details of the settlement were not disclosed, and the scheduled trial has been canceled.
In their court papers, attorneys for the Dream Center Foundation denied the plaintiffs’ allegations and claimed that the son’s own negligence caused the damages the parents suffered.
Zediker and Ennis argued that their late son, Jonathan Scott Hand, obtained the drugs from a roommate who also died of an overdose at the facility the day before.
“Drugs were brought into the defendants’ facility because they did not have sufficient staff to conduct effective searches of incoming residents and residents returning from temporary leave,” stated the plaintiffs’ attorneys. “The lack of adequate staffing is a direct consequence of the facility’s failure to obtain a license and the subsequent absence of state regulation.”
According to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, the program director confirmed in a deposition that the facility remains unlicensed and does not inform incoming members about its lack of licensure.
“The program’s noncompliance with California law directly led to Jonathan’s death,” argued the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys also claimed that state regulations would have required increased and improved staffing to prevent the entry of drugs into the facility. They asserted that Hand would have been searched and drug-tested when his roommate overdosed if proper regulations were in place.
Instead, the Dream Center allegedly employed three unqualified individuals to supervise around 145 residents, according to the court papers.
Hand, who had a history of addiction, joined the Dream Center facility in January 2020 with the intention of overcoming his dependency on alcohol and drugs.
Prior to his admission, Hand and his parents were assured by the Dream Center staff that the residential program would be suitable for him and that the employees had the necessary skills to treat his problem, as they claimed to have helped thousands of other individuals in similar circumstances.
On February 8, 2020, the Dream Center staff discovered that Hand’s roommate had brought illicit drugs onto the premises. The roommate died of a drug overdose at the facility on the same day, as stated in the complaint.
The plaintiffs argued that the Dream Center staff should have been aware that drug use by other residents would increase the risk of drug use for individuals like Hand. However, the center allegedly failed to implement adequate policies and procedures for drug searches on the premises.
Less than 24 hours after his roommate’s overdose, Hand was found dead in his room on February 9, 2020.
The lawsuit claimed that the Dream Center promotes itself as providing a safe, drug-free environment for addiction treatment but did not adhere to its own policies, let alone state regulations that are designed to protect individuals like Hand in addiction rehabilitation facilities.
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