Family of Bobby Smallwood seeks accountability after hospital’s systemic safety failures led to his preventable death.
PORTLAND, OREGON – D’Amore Law Group filed a lawsuit today in Multnomah County Circuit Court against Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center and Legacy Health on behalf of the estate of Bobby Smallwood, a security guard who was shot and killed while protecting hospital patients and staff. As alleged in the complaint, Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital and Legacy Health failed to enforce security and safety rules outlined in their official safety policies, ultimately leading to Smallwood’s death.
On July 19, 2023, PoniaX Calles accompanied his partner to Legacy Good Samaritan. Over the next three days, hospital staff filed five separate incident reports documenting Calles’s violent behavior and threats of violence, including attempting to strike a nurse and stating, “if you guys keep acting like this someone is going to get killed around here.” These actions violated Legacy’s Workplace Violence Policy, which required violators to be “removed from Legacy property immediately,” and should have resulted in Calles being excluded from the hospital. Rather than adhering to its own policies and ensuring staff safety, Legacy responded by sending emails to staff members providing “support options.”
As Calles’s aggressive behavior continued to escalate, the nurses in charge finally agreed to have him removed from the hospital. On the morning of July 22, Bobby Smallwood was instructed to wait with Calles in the hallway while hospital security staff searched his partner’s room. Despite finding multiple firearms and ammunition and learning Calles carried an additional concealed firearm on his person, security personnel failed to warn Smallwood of this critical information for 42 minutes. The hospital also failed to issue a Code Silver, the code for an active shooter, during that period. After hospital staff prevented Calles from leaving the facility, he turned and shot Smallwood in the neck.
“The repeated failures of Legacy Good Samaritan to follow their own safety protocols directly led to the tragically preventable death of Bobby Smallwood,” said Tom D’Amore. “Despite documented threats and abusive behavior that required immediate removal under hospital policy, Legacy allowed a dangerous individual to remain on the premises for three days until those threats escalated to violence.”
Plaintiffs are seeking $35 million in damages, including $30 million for non-economic damages, and $5 million for economic damages on behalf of Smallwood’s beneficiaries.
“Bobby’s death has profoundly impacted us. Every day we grieve the loss of our son and all the years ahead that should have been his to live. We will never have the joy of seeing him get married, holding his children, or hearing his laugh again,” said Bobby’s parents Walter “Bob” and Tammy Smallwood. “Nothing can bring Bobby back, but we will not stop fighting until Legacy is held fully responsible for what they took from our family.”
“We are committed to obtaining justice for the Smallwood family and ensuring that Legacy implements and enforces its safety policies to protect all hospital staff and patients,” D’Amore added.
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Tom D’Amore, founder of D’Amore Law Group in Portland, Oregon, is licensed to practice law in Oregon, Washington, and California, and brings over 30 years of experience to his clients. D’Amore is a board-certified civil trial attorney with the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) and is also board-certified in trucking injury law by the NBTA. Actively engaged in the plaintiff’s trial bar, D’Amore is a National Board Member, Executive Committee member, and past Budget and Audit Chair of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) in Washington, D.C., Past President of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association and an Eagle member of the Washington State Association for Justice.
