Filler v. Hancock Cnty.
| Decision Date | 12 March 2019 |
| Docket Number | 1:15-cv-00048-JAW |
| Parties | VLADEK FILLER, Plaintiff, v. HANCOCK COUNTY et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maine |
Concluding that a defendant committed the tort of malicious prosecution, the Court awards $1,769,354 in compensatory, economic, and punitive damages in favor of a man the defendant falsely accused of committing gross sexual assaults and assaults against his then wife. The Court's verdict and judgment runs against his now ex-wife's friend, who conspired with his wife to concoct the allegations that he committed these crimes, falsely reported these crimes to law enforcement, encouraged his wife to make false reports to the police, and falsely testified at his trials, resulting in his convictions for gross sexual assault and assault of which he was later entirely absolved.
On January 9, 2015, Vladek Filler filed a civil action in the Superior Court of Hancock County, Maine against Hancock County, a number of government officials, and Linda Gleason. State Ct. Record Attach. 1, Docket Record at 2 (ECF No. 6). On February 4, 2015, the Defendants removed Mr. Filler's lawsuit to this Court. Notice of Removal (ECF No. 1) (Notice of Removal). This Court and the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit resolved issues of governmental immunity by and large in favor of Mr. Filler. Order on Mots. to Dismiss (ECF No. 42), 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10777 (D. Me. Jan. 27, 2016); Filler v. Kellett, 859 F.3d 148 (1st Cir. 2017). In July and August 2018, Mr. Filler and all the Defendants except Linda Gleason filed Stipulations of Dismissal with the Court. Stip. of Dismissal with Prejudice Pursuant to [Fed. R. Civ. P.] 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) (ECF No. 98); Stip. of Dismissal with Prejudice Pursuant to [Fed. R. Civ. P.] 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) (ECF No. 101); Stip. of Dismissal with Prejudice Pursuant to [Fed. R. Civ. P.] 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) (ECF No. 103).
Mr. Filler impleaded Ms. Gleason as an original Defendant in January 2015 and on March 17, 2015, he served a copy of the Amended Complaint on her in South Greenfield, Missouri. See Notice of Removal Attach. 1, Compl., State Ct. Record Attachs. 4-5, Am. Compl.; Mot. for Entry of Default Against Linda Gleason Pursuant to F.R. Civ. P. 55, Attach. 1 Proof of Serv. of Summons and Compl., Attach. 2, Aff. of Counsel in Support of Req. for Entry of Default as to Def. Linda Gleason Pursuant to F.R. Civ. P. 55 (ECF No. 27). Ms. Gleason never filed an answer to the Amended Complaint nor has she otherwise defended the civil action. Accordingly, on May 1, 2015, Mr. Filler moved for entry of default against Ms. Gleason and on June 1, 2015, the Deputy Clerk of Court duly entered a default against her. Order Granting Mot. for Entry of Default (ECF No. 33).
On October 12, 2018, Mr. Filler moved for a default judgment against Ms. Gleason. Pl.'s Mot. for Default J. Against Def. Linda Gleason (ECF No. 106) (Pl.'sMot.). Mr. Filler's Amended Complaint contains two counts against Ms. Gleason: Count Five, a malicious prosecution count, and Count Six, a negligent infliction of emotional distress count. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 616-54. Mr. Filler requested a hearing and the entry of a judgment against Ms. Gleason. Pl.'s Mot. at 1-2.
On November 9, 2018, the Court entered an order on Mr. Filler's motion for default judgment. Order on Mot. for Default J. (ECF No. 108). The Court allowed Mr. Filler to proceed with an evidentiary hearing on damages, required him to give notice of the hearing to Ms. Gleason, and mandated that he provide evidence that Ms. Gleason had not otherwise defended the lawsuit. Id. at 1-6. On January 23, 2019, the Court held a default hearing on damages. Min. Entry (ECF No. 114). Mr. Filler appeared with his attorney, David Weyrens; Ms. Gleason did not appear. Attorney Weyrens confirmed by affidavit that he had a notice of the January 23, 2019 damages hearing served on Ms. Gleason on December 17, 2018 in South Greenfield, Missouri. Aff. of Paralegal, Andrew R. Ambrose ¶¶ 5-6 (ECF No. 110). On February 22, 2019, Mr. Filler filed a memorandum of law in support of his claim for damages. Pl.'s Demand for Damages Against Linda Gleason (ECF No. 117) (Pl.'s Damages Demand).
"A party who defaults is taken to have conceded the truth of the factual allegations in the complaint as establishing the grounds for liability as to which damages will be calculated." Franco v. Selective Ins. Co., 184 F.3d 4, 9 n.3 (1st Cir. 1999); Perfect Fit, LLC v. Inmate Legal Forms Serv., No. 1:18-cv-00239-LEW, 2019U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14537, at *1 (D. Me. Jan. 30, 2019) (citations omitted). The Court turns first to the allegations in the Amended Complaint and later describes the evidence Mr. Filler presented at the damages hearing. In describing the allegations in the Amended Complaint, the Court focused on Ms. Gleason's role, but the significance of her actions becomes meaningful in the context of the actions of others because Ms. Gleason and others caused the sequence of tragic events that befell Mr. Filler.
Mr. Filler's Amended Complaint tells a cautionary and extraordinary tale. Mr. Filler says that before he knew her, his ex-wife, Ligia Arguetta, had "a history of serious mental problems, psychiatric treatment, and [a] history of claims of sexual abuse and abandonment." Am. Compl. ¶ 40. In fact, Ms. Arguetta had "a prior child custody dispute involving three restraining orders, numerous claims of abuse, and criminal charges against [her] for Assault and Battery and Assault and Battery with a Deadly Weapon (her teeth) on one Carlos Badias who sought parental rights to the daughter he had with Arguetta in 1990." Id. ¶ 41. Mr. Filler says that when he began dating Ms. Arguetta in October 1991, he was "unaware of her previous hospitalization and court experiences." Id. ¶ 42.
Mr. Filler and Ms. Arguetta moved in together in 1994 and were married in October 1995. Id. ¶ 43. Mr. Filler and Ms. Arguetta had been intimate partners forsixteen years and married for twelve, producing two sons. Id. ¶ 37. Ms. Arguetta brought a daughter, Natasha, to the marriage and Mr. Filler "raised and mentored" Natasha from the time she was one year old. Id. ¶ 38. In May of 2004, Mr. Filler, Ms. Arguetta and their family moved to coastal Maine, where Mr. Filler worked from home and cared for the three children and for Ms. Arguetta. Id. ¶ 45. Mr. Filler owned an historic 1800's timber-framed project house in Gouldsboro, Maine that overlooked Frenchman Bay and Mount Desert Island and the family moved into the house in May 2004. Id. ¶ 39.
While in Maine, Ms. Arguetta's mental health deteriorated and she was prescribed medications "with daily doses reaching some twenty-four pills." Id. ¶ 46. By 2007, Mr. Filler's and Ms. Arguetta's marriage had "deteriorated beyond repair and the parties were in the midst of a separation initiated by [Mr. Filler]." Id. ¶ 48. Mr. Filler "openly made plans and arrangements to relocate with the children to the state of Georgia to live with relatives." Id. ¶ 49.
Linda Gleason was "a registered nurse working at the Maine Coast Memorial Hospital and Mount Desert Island Hospital." Id. ¶ 617. Ms. Gleason also "taught a nursing course at Sumner High School Adult Education." Id. In 2007, Ms. Gleason was unmarried and residing alone in a new three-bedroom house in Steuben, Maine. Id. ¶ 618. Ms. Gleason met Ms. Arguetta when Ms. Arguetta took her "adult education certified nurs[es] aid[e] class, beginning in January 2007." Id. ¶ 619. Overthe next few months, Ms. Gleason and Ms. Arguetta developed "a close relationship." Id. ¶ 620. Ms. Arguetta informed Ms. Gleason that Mr. Filler "intended to leave [Ms.] Arguetta and move back to his family's home in Georgia and take his two sons with him." Id. ¶ 621.
Ligia Arguetta and Linda Gleason "conspired to concoct a plan which would allow [Ms.] Arguetta to keep custody of her two sons" and the plan "included [Ms.] Arguetta and her children residing at [Ms.] Gleason's home in Steuben." Id. ¶¶ 622-23. On April 21, 2007, Ms. Arguetta "in fact moved into [Ms.] Gleason's Steuben home, along with her daughter and one-year-old son." Id. ¶ 624. "This move was part of the plan, and was in place prior to April 21, 2007." Id. It "was agreed between [Ms.] Gleason and [Ms.] Arguetta that [Ms.] Arguetta would falsely accuse [Mr. Filler] of simple assault and gross sexual assault." Id. ¶ 625. "The purpose of this was to promote [Ms.] Arguetta obtaining custody of the children, to subject [Mr.] Filler to false and malicious prosecution, and preclude him from maintaining a relationship of any kind with his children." Id. ¶ 626.
"As the date of [Mr. Filler's] departure approached, on April 21, 2007, [Ms.] Arguetta unexpectedly took their one-year-old son and relocated to live with an unknown new friend at an undisclosed location in another county." Id. ¶ 51. In an "effort to gain physical custody of the couple's ten-year-old son, [Ms.] Arguetta engaged the police and began making numerous allegations of abuse." Id. ¶ 52.
On April 22, 2007, Linda Gleason, Ms. Arguetta's new friend, "called the Gouldsboro police to go over to [Mr. Filler's] house and 'get' the couple's ten-year-old son and deliver him . . . to [Ms.] Arguetta's custody." Id. ¶ 75. Gouldsboro police "only agreed to get involved if [Ms.] Arguetta was a victim of abuse," and Ms. Arguetta "then took the phone and claimed she was a victim of being 'pushed' by [Mr. Filler] two days earlier on April 20, 2007." Id. ¶ 76....
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