A limited liability company owned by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, is facing a wrongful death lawsuit over the August 2019 death of a part-time security guard.
The family of Rodney Medeiros is suing because they claim that Pilaa Land, LLC, is responsible for the heart attack the 70-year-old man suffered when he was forced to walk up a steep hill because bad weather prevented his usual transportation from giving him a ride, according to KOGG-TV.
The man’s daughter, Ziba Medeiros, said the former sugar cane worker was hired part-time as a security guard and posted at Pilaa beach, at the base of a steep hill on Koolau Ranch.
“They would take him with a Kawasaki Mule and drive him to his post. And when his shift was over they would go down and pick him up and bring him back up,” Ziba Medeiros said.
But on August 4, 2019, that did not happen.
“It was storming. It was raining really bad,” Medeiros said, noting that high water in the Kilauea River and the rain meant her father did not have a ride and was forced to walk up the hill.
“It’s a cliff,” Medeiros told the TV station. “It’s steep and they told us it drops on both sides.”
Rodney Medeiros was found leaning against a tree holding his chest. He was alert but holding his chest. Ben LaBolt, a spokesperson for Zuckerberg, said medical staff who were present “transported Mr. Medeiros, who was conscious and communicative, to the ambulance, which rushed Mr. Medeiros to Wilcox Hospital.”
Medeiros died several hours after he arrived at the hospital
Was anyone really at fault here?
“When he had that heart attack, it ripped a hole in his heart so he was bleeding out,” Ziba Medeiros said, noting she did not learn of her dad’s death until the next day.
A cardiologist ruled that “the physical stress of climbing the hill was a substantial factor that caused the acute event.”
“It didn’t need to happen,” attorney Michael Green, who is representing the Medeiros family, told the television outlet.
He said for $1,000, the four-wheel ATVs used to transport Medeiros could have had all-weather tires. “Then [Medeiros] wouldn’t have had to walk.”
A representative of Zuckerberg later met with the family to offer money if they needed it. The family did not respond.
“There’s nothing that’s going to make it OK, There’s nothing that’s going to bring him back,” said Ziba Medeiros.
But eventually, a $7,500 check arrived.
“We were like, oh wow, this is so nice of them,” she said, noting that over time, that emotion changed.
“It’s $7,500 for our father’s life. Is this supposed to make it OK?” she said.
The family recorded the security manager for the ranch saying transportation issues have happened before, forcing guards to walk up the hill where Medeiros was stricken.
LaBolt said the $7,500 was “given by Mark and Priscilla” and was meant “to help with burial and funeral expenses.”
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