ENUMCLAW, Wash. — Judy Russo operates a small barbershop in this rural Pierce County town, a modest business that has sustained her through life's hardships. But no amount of resilience could prepare her for what she learned about her son's final months: that the drug treatment facility entrusted with his care had assigned unqualified trainees to oversee his recovery, and that the center's practices were so deficient that state regulators ultimately forced its closure.

Now Russo is suing Rainier Recovery, once a chain of addiction treatment centers in Pierce County, alleging that the company engaged in a "negligent pattern" of treating drug and alcohol-dependent clients. Her son, Brett Ryan, died of a fentanyl overdose at her home last year, months after he started treatment at Rainier.

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