Family of Soldiers’ Home victim files suit
Superintendent, state secretary are named
The family of a Korean War veteran who was among the dozens of residents to die of coronavirus at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home has filed a class action lawsuit against the facility’s then-superintendent, three members of his leadership team and the former secretary of veterans’ services.
The civil suit seeking $176 million was filed in U.S. District Court Friday by the estate of Joseph Sniadach on behalf of the 76 deceased residents and the 84 other veterans who contracted COVID-19 at the facility, attorneys said. It appears to be the first legal action taken by family members of veterans who died in the outbreak.
“This was a tragedy that never should have happened,” attorney Thomas Lesser said in a press conference outside the Springfield courthouse Friday. “In bringing this lawsuit we fully understand that no legal proceeding can ever restore the lives of these 76 veterans who served our country. And we fully understand that nothing we do can bring back the health of the 84 other veterans who contracted COVID-19. But this case seeks to right those wrongs.”
The suit names former Superintendent Bennett Walsh, who the state is seeking to terminate from his position; former veterans’ Secretary Francisco Urena, who resigned last month ahead of the release of a report on an independent investigation into the facility’s handling of the outbreak; and three top medical staff at the home — former medical director Dr. David Clinton; Vanessa Lauziere, the former chief nursing officer, and Celeste Surreira, the former assistant director of nursing.
Gov. Charlie Baker declined to weigh in on the suit when asked at an unrelated press conference Friday, saying, “Having talked to many of the families myself personally over the course of many hours, I am more than aware of the pain and the sadness and the loss that they feel.”
Sniadach, the figurehead for the suit, moved into the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home in January — just weeks before the virus began to spread through the facility, ultimately claiming the 84-year-old’s life.
The lawsuit alleges that the home’s leadership “acted with deliberate indifference to the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, an indifference that resulted in the spread of COVID-19” throughout the facility that “was preventable.”
It draws heavily on a scathing report by former federal prosecutor Mark W. Pearlstein that found leadership made “substantial errors” and “utterly baffling” decisions in stemming the spread of COVID-19 at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, most notably the “devastating” call to put dying veterans and dementia patients in the same room as others infected with the virus. The report largely lays blame at the feet of Walsh, his leadership team and the Department of Veterans’ Services, which Pearlstein said “failed” to provide adequate oversight.
Walsh’s attorney and uncle, William Bennett, said at the time the report was released that, “We dispute many of the statements and conclusions in the report” and is fighting the Baker administration’s attempts to fire the superintendent. State and federal investigations into the soldiers’ home are ongoing.
A lawyer for Walsh declined comment. Efforts to reach the others named in the suit were unsuccessful.