West Virginia Center Settles Suit Over Man’s 2009 Death

Prestera Center has settled a lawsuit filed by the family of a man who died after staying in an alcohol recovery shelter operated by the nonprofit.

The Charleston Gazette reports that Prestera agreed to pay $1 million to the family of 24-year-old Dustin Hill. Prestera also agreed to pay $20,687 in medical, funeral and other expenses.

The city of Dunbar also is a defendant and hasn’t agreed to a settlement.

According to lawsuit filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court, Hill didn’t have any alcohol in his system when Dunbar police brought him to the shelter in September 2009. The lawsuit says police didn’t perform a blood-alcohol test.

The lawsuit also alleged that staff at the shelter didn’t notice that Hill had overdosed on cocaine and other drugs.