A Southern Nevada jury says the state and a former mental hospital administrator are responsible for class-action damages that could range from about $9 million to more than $22 million for putting patients on buses in Las Vegas for one-way trips to cities around the country. They deliberated less than three hours after a two-week trial before deciding unanimously that every Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital patient who was given a Greyhound bus ticket to another city, and no other arrangements for care after June 2011 should receive $250,000.
State law could cap damages at $100,000 per plaintiff, or $8.9 million. The jury decision will be appealed. The judgment could exceed $22.5 million if the cap is waived.