Reporter: Luis Lubinas

An 89-year-old San Diego woman, her daughter and granddaughter have been awarded $590,000 by a San Diego County Superior Court jury in a lawsuit that accused the Beverly Manor Convalescent Home in Escondido of improperly caring for her husband.

Grace Lykins charged in the suit that her then 89-year-old husband, Aaron Robert Lykins, whom she had placed in the Beverly Manor home on Dec. 31, 1980, lost one-third of his body weight and developed bedsores over much of his body after four months in the home. Mrs. Lykins removed her husband from the home then, according to her attorney, T. Michael Reed.

Aaron Lykins was transferred to an acute care hospital where he eventually died of congestive heart failure and advanced age, Reed said.

Representatives of the convalescent home were unavailable for comment Friday on the jury’s decision, which was handed down Thursday after less than a day of deliberation.

During the five-day trial, Reed alleged that the convalescent home had failed to fulfill promises it had made to Mrs. Lykins about her husband’s care. For example, Reed alleged, the home charged her for feeding Lykins by hand when in fact attendants had not done so.

The verdict represented damages for the $5,700 Mrs. Lykins paid Beverly Manor during the period her husband was there as well as damages for "emotional distress" the family suffered.

"To be honest, I had no idea it would turn into this much money," said Reed, who said he took the case after several lawyers rejected it. "The most they offered to settle the case for was $5,000."

Reed, whose law firm will collect one-third of the final judgment, said he expected the nursing home to appeal.