Plourde v. Dirigo Counseling Clinic LLC
| Decision Date | 20 January 2021 |
| Docket Number | SUPERIOR COURT Civil Action Docket No. CV-20-0055 |
| Parties | Glen Plourde, Plaintiff, v. Dirigo Counseling Clinic LLC, Megann Holland, Alan Algee, Marianne Lynch, Stephen Burlock, State of Maine, Penobscot County District Attorney's Office, Defendants. |
| Court | Maine Superior Court |
STATE OF MAINE
Penobscot, ss
The State of Maine, District Attorney of Prosecutorial District 5 Marianne Lynch,1 and Assistant District Attorney Stephen Burlock (hereinafter referred to collectively as "the Defendants" or "Defendants"2) have moved to dismiss plaintiffGlen Plourde's complaint against them pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). The court grants the Defendants' motion.
Plaintiff commenced this case by filing a complaint3 in the Superior Court on April 23, 2020. Before serving the defendants, Plaintiff filed an amended complaint on July 1, 2020. The following background summarizes the allegations made in Plaintiff's amended complaint (hereinafter referred to as the "complaint").
Plaintiff was charged with domestic violence assault in the case docketed PENCD-CR-16-20309. Plaintiff alleges that, pursuant to a plea agreement with the Penobscot County District Attorney, he agreed to seek family counseling services. (Amend. Compl. ¶¶ 9-16.) He alleges that Dirigo Counseling Clinic, LLC was the only business providing counseling services in the Bangor area to answer its phone and accept him as a patient and therefore the only provider from which he could seek counseling services. (Id. ¶¶ 10-15.) Dirigo Counseling scheduled a counseling session for Plaintiff with Dirigo's family counselor, Megann Holland, for April 10, 2017. (Id. ¶ 21-22.) During the counseling session, Plaintiff became concerned that Ms. Holland was not a fully licensed and qualified family counselor because Ms. Holland asked questions that he felt were improper for a family counseling session and also because, based on his reading of Ms. Holland's resume, Ms. Holland did not have a psychologydegree or the necessary professional experience. (Id. ¶¶ 23-35.) Plaintiff also alleges that Ms. Holland was dressed "provocatively" and "unprofessionally" for their session, which caused him to have further suspicions that Ms. Holland was not qualified to act as his family counselor. (Id. ¶ 23.)
Plaintiff met again with Ms. Holland for a counseling session on April 17, 2017. During this session, Ms. Holland allegedly asked Plaintiff numerous times if he would like to play with a piece of brown clay that was on her desk, an activity that Ms. Holland said her patients found relaxing. (Id. ¶¶ 38-47.) Plaintiff states that the brown clay looked like feces. (Id.) Plaintiff alleges that he repeatedly refused Ms. Holland's suggestion that he play with the clay, but Ms. Holland persisted in asking him to do so. (Id.) Plaintiff asserts that Ms. Holland's repeated inquiries about whether he would like to play with the clay were suspicious and caused him to believe that the clay was not just clay. (Id.) Based on this alleged incident, Plaintiff asserts that Ms. Holland subjected him to harassment, abuse, and medical malpractice. (Id. ¶¶ 48-49.)
Plaintiff states that he then questioned Ms. Holland about her psychology credentials and she allegedly admitted that she was "working toward her associates degree" and was not a licensed practitioner. (Id. ¶ 51.) Plaintiff alleges that he then asked Ms. Holland if she was collaborating with other people regarding Plaintiff's counseling sessions and that Holland responded by saying that she was discussing Plaintiff's sessions with a panel of associates. (Id. ¶ 52.) Plaintiff then became suspicious that Ms. Holland was discussing his case with the government or the Penobscot County District Attorneys Office. (Id. ¶ 53.) In response to Plaintiff'squestions on the topic, Ms. Holland allegedly stated that "there might be some government employees I discuss your case with." (Id. ¶ 53.) Plaintiff further states that he could hear noise from outside the room during their counseling sessions. (Id. ¶¶ 54-55.) Based upon that noise, he concludes that his counseling sessions with Ms. Holland were being "eavesdropped on" and Ms. Holland was allowing this eavesdropping to occur. (Id.)
Plaintiff additionally states that during this second counseling session, Ms. Holland said that "it was her job to produce a psychiatric diagnosis" of Plaintiff. (Id. ¶ 57.) Plaintiff states that this made him concerned and suspicious because he had not asked for a psychiatric diagnosis and also because the Penobscot County District Attorneys who were prosecuting his criminal case "wanted and were angling for" a psychiatric diagnosis of Plaintiff. (Id. ¶¶ 58-59.) Plaintiff states that the District Attorneys had moved for such a psychiatric examination in his criminal case. (Id. ¶ 59.) Plaintiff further alleges that he was suspicious and concerned about Holland's statement because Dirigo Counseling "is also known to work with and for" the State of Maine. (Id.) Based on the above allegations, Plaintiff claims that Dirigo Counseling Clinic and Megann Holland were colluding and cooperating with the State of Maine, the Penobscot County District Attorney's Office, D.A. Lynch, and A.D.A. Burlock to obtain an unauthorized psychiatric evaluation of Plaintiff. (Id. ¶¶ 60-64.)
After Ms. Holland allegedly stated that it was her job to produce a psychiatric diagnosis of him, Plaintiff alleges that he informed Ms. Holland that he refused to allow her to make any sort of diagnosis of him and that this was not the reason he came to Dirigo for counseling. (Id. ¶¶ 65-66.) Plaintiff states that Ms. Holland thensuggested that they cease meeting for counseling sessions; however, Plaintiff refused because of fear that stopping the counseling sessions might harm his plea agreement. (Id. ¶ 67.) During this conversation, Plaintiff alleges that he heard a woman's voice come from a "grey speaker" on Ms. Holland's desk which said "alright that's enough" and that Holland responded, "ok" to this voice. (Id. ¶¶ 69-70.)
Upon hearing this exchange, Plaintiff began questioning Ms. Holland about the voice from the speaker. (Id. ¶¶ 71-73.) Plaintiff alleges that Ms. Holland responded by telling Plaintiff that the speaker was connected to her phone and that Plaintiff had heard a message going to her voicemail. (Id. ¶ 72.) When Plaintiff continued questioning her about the speaker, Ms. Holland allegedly got up from her chair "walked aggressively" toward the speaker, picked it up, "walked aggressively" in front of Plaintiff, and "quickly" and "aggressively" "thrust" the speaker "within approximately 3-inches" of Plaintiff's face and stated "[s]ee its just a Bose speaker connected to my cellphone's voicemail!" (Id. ¶¶ 73-75.) Plaintiff claims that the speaker was "dangerous" and "potentially harmful" and that Ms. Holland's actions constitute "[a]ssault", "[r]eckless [e]ndangerment", and "[m]edical [m]alpractice". (Id. ¶¶ 76-78.)
When Plaintiff went for his next counseling session on April 24, 2017, he arrived at the clinic but found the clinic closed and that his counseling session had been canceled. (Id. ¶¶ 82-84.) Plaintiff states that when he called Dirigo Counseling's Executive Director, Alan Algee, that day to inquire about his appointment, Mr. Algee informed him that his counseling session had been cancelled by Ms. Holland and that Ms. Holland had sent a letter to him informing him of the cancellation. (Id. ¶ 86.)Plaintiff then learned from Mr. Algee that Dirigo Counseling had sent the letter to the wrong address. (Id. ¶¶ 87-89.) Plaintiff asserts that Ms. Holland intentionally misaddressed the letter to Plaintiff. (Id. ¶ 90.) Due to the cancellation of the appointment and his nonreceipt of the letter, Plaintiff claims that he has suffered "unnecessary fear, anxiety, and mental anguish" as these events caused Plaintiff to believe that Penobscot County District Attorney Lynch would use this cancellation as a reason to nullify his plea agreement and resume prosecuting Plaintiff. (Id. ¶ 90.) Later that day Plaintiff received an email from Holland informing him that she was terminating their clinical relationship. (Id. ¶¶ 92-93.)
Plaintiff further states that the copies of his medical records that he received from Dirigo Counseling contain many inaccuracies and falsehoods regarding his counseling sessions. (Id. ¶¶ 94-96.) In particular, Plaintiff asserts that Ms. Holland described Plaintiff's behavior as "anxious, defensive, paranoid, resistant, and angry" during their counseling sessions; however, Plaintiff states that his behavior was actually "calm and collected" during the sessions. (Id. ¶ 95.) Plaintiff further alleges that Ms. Holland's notes misrepresented Plaintiff's reaction to the grey speaker on her desk. (Id. ¶ 96.) Based on these alleged facts, Plaintiff concludes that his medical records were falsified in order to cast him in a negative light and obscure Holland's medical malpractice. (Id. ¶ 98.)
Plaintiff's complaint continues and makes additional allegations directed against District Attorney (D.A.) Lynch and Assistant District Attorney (A.D.A.) Burlock. Plaintiff states that in the criminal case against him, PENCD-CR-16-20309, D.A. Lynch was representing the State and filed a motion to compel a forensicexamination of Plaintiff. (Id. ¶ 100.) The complaint states that he appeared for a court hearing in this case and was told by a court clerk that D.A. Lynch wanted to speak with him in her office. (Id. ¶ 102.) Because of Plaintiff's concerns about meeting in her office, D.A. Lynch met with Plaintiff in the lobby and told him that his case was dismissed. (Id. ¶¶ 103-104.) He states that this dismissal prevented him from having an opportunity to argue his motions in that case before the court and states that if he had been allowed to argue his...
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