Previous Story
Court junks case against CHC employee and DPH
|
Posted on Jan 19 2000
The Superior Court threw out yesterday the assault and battery complaint filed by Maria Cecilia Evangelista, an employee of the Commonwealth Health Center against Gerry Hall, an operating room technician of the hospital in November 1996.
Also named respondent in the case was the Department of Public Health and Environmental Services.
Based on the complaint, Mr. Hall entered CHC’s Operating Room II and found that it had not been cleaned properly. Johnny Aldan, the clinical coordinator of the surgery department, instructed Ms. Evangelista to go to OR II and set the room up for surgical procedure.
Five minutes later, Mr. Aldan walked into OR II and found Ms. Evangelista and Mr. Hall jokingly accusing the other of failing to clean the operating rooms.
Mr. Hall threw a linen in Ms. Evangelista’s direction, hitting her on the right shoulder and cheek. Ms. Evangelista then turned toward Mr. Hall and attempted to punch and kick him. To defend himself, Mr. Hall grabbed the woman’s forearms and pulled her arms out at length.
In his six-page decision, Judge Bellas ruled that Ms. Evangelista failed to prove a prima facie case for any of the torts of which she complains against Mr. Hall because she failed to establish any damages.
The altercation between the parties took place on a Friday afternoon. Ms. Evangelista testified that she did not miss work and showed up on duty the following Monday. In dismissing the charges against Mr. Hall, the court ruled that Ms. Evangelista failed to prove that there was any temporary, significant or permanent injury.
Judge Bellas said there was no sufficient evidence to establish that the government knew or should have known about Mr. Hall’s alleged dangerous proclivities. The Judge said there is no evidence to prove that the government discouraged any employee from reporting or documenting instances of abuse.
Furthermore, there was no basis for the court to find the CNMI government liable for failing to address alleged earlier problems since the evidence presented failed to justify that Mr. Hall would have committed an intentional tort.
