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# Promises Malibu treatment center settles lawsuit over meals, pool and success rate claims
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/promises-maybe-but-cant-get-no-satisfaction-by-carolyn-sackariason-daily-press-staff-writer/
- Published: 2001-12-06T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-22T22:29:57.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: Health, Malibu, #archive-import

*Malibu center settles lawsuit over patient’s unsatisfied tastebuds*

If you want a first rate meal, don’t patronize a drug and treatment facility.

Promises Treatment Center in Malibu recently settled a lawsuit after a patient claimed he was misled into thinking the drug and alcohol treatment facility had “first rate” meals. That was one of the claims by a man known only as “Charles S.,” who sued Promises in Los Angeles Superior Court. He claimed the treatment center took advantage of him while he was inebriated at check-in and unable to read the paperwork.

After a few days of his stay there, Charles S. apparently found the quality of the food to be sobering. In addition, he felt the recreational amenities weren’t what Promises had — well — promised.

Charles S. thought he was told the treatment center had a gym and a heated pool. He also felt he’d be getting daily snacks during his stay, his suit claims. None of that was provided, he asserted. He also thought he heard that the center had a success rate of 80 percent, which would give him decent odds of staying sober. His suit claims that the director of Promises told him about the success rate.

But that’s not what Charles S. was told in group therapy, he complained. There he learned from his counselor that only one in 12 patients — about 8 percent, not 80 — would emerge on the road to lifelong sobriety. He also never received individual therapy, which he came to expect.

“The representations were in fact false and defendants knew that they were false,” the suit says. “The misrepresentations were made by defendants with the intention of promoting their own interests... These representations were made to plaintiff with full knowledge by defendants that plaintiff suffered from alcoholism and (paperwork) was first presented to plaintiff at a time that defendants knew he was intoxicated and unable to read.”

The complaint didn’t elaborate on how Charles S. came to gain his expectations if he’d temporarily lost his reading ability.

The suit sought a refund of the $31,000 he claims to have paid Promises. The plaintiff’s attorney, David Brien, said the suit had been settled for an undisclosed amount.

But a Promises representative, who asked not to be identified, said the former patient’s claims are untrue and the case was settled because it was considered a nuisance suit. He also said Promises does have a heated pool and employs three gourmet chefs.

“Nobody ever made a representation that wasn’t the truth at Promises,” he said. “It was settled because it’s ridiculous. People can sue you for anything and you have to make a decision on how to spend your time and energy.

“You have to remember we are dealing with really sick people.”

> “You have to remember we are dealing with really sick people.” — Promises representative

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 6, 2001.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/120601.pdf?ref=smdp.com)