Jane Doe v. HRH Prince Abdulaziz Bin Fahd Alsaud, Saudi Oger Ltd.

• Decision Date: 10 October 2017
• Docket Number: 13 Civ. 571
• Parties: JANE DOE, Plaintiff, v. HRH PRINCE ABDULAZIZ BIN FAHD ALSAUD, SAUDI OGER LTD, and MUSTAPHA OUANES, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

JANE DOE, Plaintiff, v. HRH PRINCE ABDULAZIZ BIN FAHD ALSAUD,SAUDI OGER LTD, and MUSTAPHA OUANES, Defendants.

13 Civ. 571

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

October 10, 2017

OPINION

APPEARANCES:

Attorney for Plaintiff

MORELLI LAW FIRM PLLC

777 Third Avenue, 31^st Floor

New York, NY 10017

By: Sara A. Strickland, Esq.

Pro Se Defendant

MUSTAPHA OUANES

12-A-2814

Eastern Correctional Facility

P.O. Box 338

Napanoch, NY 12458

Sweet, D.J.

This action arises from Defendant Mustapha Ouanes' ("Ouanes" or the "Defendant") rape and assault of the Plaintiff Jane Doe ("Doe" or the "Plaintiff") at The Plaza Hotel on January 26, 2010. The Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment was granted on December 13, 2016 (the "Opinion"). See People v. Ouanes, 123 A.D.3d 480 (1st Dep't 2014), leave to appeal denied, 25 N.Y.3d 1075 (2015); see also Doe v. Alsaud, 224 F. Supp. 3d 286 (S.D.N.Y. 2016). The Plaintiff now seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

The Plaintiff is to be awarded $1,250,000 in compensatory damages — $850,000 for past pain and suffering and $400,000 for future pain and suffering - and $1,000,000 in punitive damages.

I. Prior Proceedings

The Opinion set forth the proceedings prior to this motion, and they are restated in relevant part here. See Alsaud, 224 F. Supp. 3d at 289.

In February 2012, following a two-week trial in New York Criminal Court, a jury convicted Ouanes of five criminal charges: rape in the first degree, criminal sexual act in the first degree, sexual abuse in the first degree, assault in the second degree, and attempted sexual abuse in the first degree. See People v. Ouanes, 123 A.D.3d 480 (1st Dep't 2014), leave to appeal denied, 25 N.Y.3d 1075 (2015). Ouanes was sentenced to ten years in prison. Id.

In 2013, the Plaintiff filed this civil action against the Defendant. The Plaintiff moved for summary judgment as to Ouanes' liability in June 2016, and the motion was granted on the ground of collateral estoppel on December 13, 2016. In June 2017, the Plaintiff moved for compensatory and punitive damages. This motion was taken on submission on August 15, 2017, at which point the motion was deemed fully submitted.

II. The Facts

The egregious details of the January 26, 2010 attack and the effects on the Plaintiff are set forth below, restated as provided by the Plaintiff. See Pl.'s Br. Exs. D & E.

In January 2010, the Defendant drugged and sexually assaulted the Plaintiff and her friend Mary Doe in a hotel room at The Plaza Hotel. See Pl.'s Br. Ex. D ¶¶ 13-21. Ouanes repeatedly raped the Plaintiff and sodomized her. See id. At multiple points during the attack, which lasted several hours, the Plaintiff tried to escape Ouanes' grasp but was unable to do so. See id. When the two women regained consciousness after the attack, Mary Doe dialed 911 while the Defendant stared at them coldly and nonchalantly said: "Go ahead, call the police. Do whatever you want." See id. ¶¶ 23, 24. The Plaintiff states that the Defendant's heinous and disgusting violation of her body left her feeling horrified and worthless. See id. Ex. E ¶ 3. The Plaintiff also states that although she does not remember all of the attack because she was so heavily drugged, what she does recall about the events of January 26, 2010 will stay with her forever. See id.

After the police arrived, the Plaintiff was taken to the emergency room at Roosevelt Hospital where she underwent an examination and rape kit. See id. Ex. D ¶ 26 & Ex. E ¶ 3. She describes her examination at Roosevelt Hospital as "almost as painful as child birth." See id. Ex. E ¶ 3. Ms. Doe also states that as a result of the attack, she had multiple contusions in and around her vagina, anus, and breasts, as well as bruisesrevealing handprints at her waist and hips. See id. Ex. D ¶ 26. She was bleeding from her rectum and her jaw was sore. See id. Ms. Doe avers:

I will never forget the horrific taste in my mouth and begging for water [at Roosevelt Hospital], however as part of the exam I had to wait until all the necessary swabs for the rape kit were completed. When I received the phone call from the ADA stating that the "horrible taste" was fecal matter that [was] swabbed from my mouth, I almost wanted to crawl out of my own skin.

See id. Ex. E ¶ 3. The Plaintiff also received care at the Roosevelt Hospital AIDS clinic where she was prescribed antivirals and an antiemetic in case she had been exposed to HIV/AIDS during the attack. See id. ¶ 4. She was also advised that the medications carried the risk of permanent liver and kidney dysfunction and were so strong that she spent the majority of the next two weeks nauseous or vomiting. See id.

In addition to her significant and disturbing physical injuries, the Plaintiff suffered and continues to suffer severe emotional distress as a result of the Defendant's attack. Her affidavits detail her emotional injuries and the myriad ways in which the Defendant's vicious actions have upended her life. See id. Exs. D & E. Specifically, as a result of the Defendant's attack, the Plaintiff was diagnosed with complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ("PTSD"), anxiety disorder, and massive depression, which persist today. See id. Ex. D ¶ 27 & Ex. E ¶¶8-9, 11. The Plaintiff states that after the attack, the impacts of trauma were so invasive and omnipresent that she could no longer carry out her daily activities and she fell into a deep depression and felt constant anxiety. See id. Ex. E ¶ 6. As a result of these thoughts and feelings, Ms. Doe attempted to take her own life in 2010. See id. She explains: "at that time, I honestly wanted to die because I already felt as if I was dead." Id. The Plaintiff was admitted to Princeton House Behavior Health's Woman Trauma program for several weeks and remained there until she was called to court for the Defendant's two-week criminal trial. See id. ¶ 7. The Plaintiff describes her cross-examination over three days and the display of graphic, very personal photographs of her body at the Defendant's criminal trial as jarring, humiliating, and devastating for her and her family. See id. ¶ 8.

Ms. Doe also describes the PTSD, anxiety, and depression as completely altering her life and the way she identified herself in the world. See id. ¶ 12. She explains:

The sexual assault has robbed me of my confidence and my self-esteem. My dignity, my autonomy, and my self-respect have all been compromised as a result of the crimes carried out against me. My faith in myself and my faith in the world have been decimated. I am not the person I was before the assault and I will never be the same as a result of what has been inflicted upon me. I struggle to remember what life was like when things like safety could be taken for granted. Iam afraid I cannot live up to the expectations of those who knew me before. I struggle to connect to people in good faith and to trust them. I struggle to find the energy, on so many days, to fight through the difficulties sexual assault has created for me and reach out to others. Solitude and isolation became my new safety and I became socially isolated.

Id. At the time of the assault, the Plaintiff was a nursing student living in Brooklyn and she supported herself and paid for school by working in Manhattan as a bartender. See id. Ex. D ¶ 1 & Ex. E ¶ 5. As a result of the sexual assault and the PTSD, depression, and anxiety it caused, Ms. Doe lost her job and her apartment in Brooklyn, could not immediately return to nursing school, and had to move back to New Jersey to live with her parents. See id. Ex. D ¶ 27 & Ex. E ¶¶ 5, 15. She attempted to return to nursing school in 2012, but had to medically withdraw to take care of herself. See id. Ex. E ¶ 15. Ms. Doe returned in 2014 and hopes to finally complete nursing school later this year, more than seven years after the attack. See id. The Plaintiff describes her attempts to complete school since the attack as a "struggle every step of the way." Id. She has also been unable to maintain full time work since the attack. She explains:

To this day, seven years since the assault, I have not been able to work full-time. The physical and psychological impacts of the assault continue to interfere with my daily life and prevent me from achieving what used to come so easily. I do not know when I will be in a position to return to full-time work. In 2010, I took a job working as an assistantmanager at Boom Restaurant on Spring St. NYC. I had to resign from my position due to depression and anxiety. I no longer had the social skills I needed to continue to work in such a high demanding social atmosphere. I resigned after a few months of employment. I had been a part owner in [] a nail salon with my mother and in 2012, we had to liquidate the business due to symptoms consistent with my PTSD diagnosis. The truth is I will not know if I will be able to ever work full-time again. I plan to give it my all, I now have a new reason to live, that is solely for my son, [whose] life depends on me. I struggle to be strong each day . . . .

Not being able to work full-time for over seven years now has had a significant financial impact on my life - severely restricting my earning capacity and costing me tens of thousands of dollars in lost income. I have been dependent on family and friends for assistance when I could not hold a job of my own. I will also never get the years I suffered so immensely (my late twenties) back. Prior to the sexual assault I was an outgoing, social, hardworking individual with dreams of one day becoming an RN. Not being able to work full-time is humiliating and distressing. Full-time employment is not just a way to make a living, it is a way to participate in and contribute to society.

Id. ¶¶ 9, 10. The sexual assault and its effects continue to haunt the Plaintiff to this day. She states:

I presently see a psychiatrist every three months for support with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress. On a daily basis, I still struggle with

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