Verdict in favor of nurse reversed

WILKES-BARRE – The state Superior Court has overturned a $400,000 verdict in favor of a nurse who alleged an official with the Wyoming Valley Health Care System improperly revealed information from the nurse’s personnel file.

The appellate court, ruling in the case of a woman identified only as “Jane Doe,” said the evidence presented during a 2008 trial before Luzerne County Judge Hugh Mundy did not support the jury’s verdict that the health care system had violated the woman’s privacy.

The case stemmed from testimony given by Mary Beth Komnath, vice president of patient care, during a 1996 hearing before National Labor Relations Board regarding efforts by hospital nurses to unionize.

Doe had been active in organizing the union. At the NLRB hearing, Komnath testified about disciplinary action that had been taken against 17 employees, including Doe, who had once been reprimanded for failing to take the vital signs of a patient.

The lawsuit alleged Doe was the only person whose name was revealed during the hearing. She maintained the revelation of that information invaded her privacy, causing her extreme emotional distress and embarrassment.

A jury awarded the nurse $50,000 in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages after a one-day trial in January 2008.

In overturning the verdict, the Superior Court found there was insufficient evidence to support Doe’s allegation that she had been singled out for release of the embarrassing information because she was involved with union activities.

The court noted Komnath had testified about disciplinary actions against the employees because she was attempting to show that nurses who held the position of “clinical care coordinators” were supervisors who should be excluded from the bargaining unit. To show that, the hospital assembled examples of disciplinary actions that were initiated by clinical care coordinators.

The court said the evidence showed that Komnath played no role in deciding which employee files were selected for review and that she did not know Doe’s file was among those until the day Komnath appeared at the NLRB hearing. The court also found there was no evidence that showed Komnath knew Doe was part of the union organizing committee.

“The record makes clear the purpose of the disclosure was genuine and related to the NLRB proceedings. There is no evidence of record to show the disclosure was made to malign (Doe), directly or indirectly,” the court wrote.

The court overturned the verdict and issued judgment in the hospital’s favor, meaning there will be no re-trial.

Kim Borland, Doe’s attorney, said he plans to appeal the court’s ruling. “We believe the actions of this particular panel will be reversed ... and that the unanimous decision of 12 jurors will be restored,” Borland said.