Big Town Nursing Home, Inc. v. Newman

Newman, a 67-year-old man with Parkinson's disease and several other conditions, was admitted to Big Town Nursing Home (defendant) on the understanding he would not be held against his will. When he tried to leave, staff blocked his phone and visitor access, physically forced him back after he walked out, locked him in a wing with unrelated patients, and once strapped him into a restraint chair for over five hours. The home never obtained a court order for his confinement. Newman eventually escaped for good and sued for false imprisonment, winning actual and exemplary damages at trial. The nursing home appealed.