Estate of Alvera Meuti sues Cleveland nursing home after elderly woman froze to death outside locked exit
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The family of an 84-year-old woman who froze to death outside a Cleveland-area nursing home has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging negligence and inadequate supervision, naming both the facility and a nurse now facing criminal charges.
According to a 12-page complaint filed November 26, 2025, in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, the Estate of Alvera Meuti is suing Progressive Interchange Healthcare LLC, operator of the Avenue at Warrensville Care and Rehabilitation Center, and nurse Amber Henderson in connection with Meuti’s death on December 24, 2024. The case, numbered CV-25-128865, has been assigned to Judge David T. Matia.
The lawsuit states that Meuti was able to leave the facility through an exit door that “closed and locked behind her,” leaving her trapped outside overnight. Her body was discovered the following morning on a patio near the door. The medical examiner determined her cause of death to be hypothermia.
“At 9:30 p.m. on December 23, 2024, Henderson visited Alvera’s room and Alvera was not there. Yet no report was made and no action was taken to locate Alvera,” the complaint alleges. “Additional checks should have been made to locate her or notify Alvera’s family that she was missing, which did not occur.”
The filing claims that the door near Meuti’s room had been left unlocked and was not equipped with a keypad or alarm system—safeguards that should have prevented a resident from leaving unnoticed. The complaint argues that the absence of such safety measures, combined with staff inaction, directly led to Meuti’s death.
Henderson has been criminally charged with involuntary manslaughter in Cuyahoga County for allegedly failing to provide proper supervision and neglecting to report Meuti’s disappearance in a timely manner. The family’s lawsuit further accuses both Henderson and the facility of negligence and wrongful death, asserting that inadequate training and policy failures placed residents in danger.
Attorney Brian J. Green filed the complaint electronically on behalf of the Meuti family. The court filing, confirmed under number 3687620, seeks damages for the family’s loss and for violations of state nursing home care standards.
Neither the Avenue at Warrensville Care and Rehabilitation Center nor Progressive Interchange Healthcare has publicly commented on the case.