Tony Kissner v. Polk Hospital

Synopsis
Tony Kissner was a young, up-and-coming amateur golfer and had been considering turning professional for quite some time. Kissner filed suit against Polk Hospital, alleging that they were negligent in allowing Martin Dutcher to be released from 24-hour supervised care without first ensuring that he longer posed a threat. Kissner alleges that because of the negligence of Polk Hospital, he was injured and as such is entitled to damages. This case has not been bifurcated and, as such, negligence and damages are to be considered in the same proceeding.

Details
Tony Kissner v. Polk Hospital is described as being a civil case of Negligence, while also focusing on the issues of damages along with liability.

Tony Kissner was a 21 year old college student with a talent for golf. For years, Tony had been playing golf at Midlands State University on an athletic scholarship. During their Junior Year, Tony was consistently ranking in the top 10 at every tournament they played at. Tony was even able to sign sponsorship deals with companies while still in college. With Tony's skill, several witnesses, including Tony's personal golf instructor and former PGA player Sandy Trienen, were convinced they could go pro and have a very successful and lucrative career.

However, everything came crashing down for Tony on January 4, 2004. On their way back from golf practice, Tony and Tony's best friend Courtney Sharrow were driving home on an interstate highway. On their way back, Tony accidently swerved near a car pulled over on the shoulder, although Tony denies hitting the car, Courtney swears that Tony clipped the back end of it. At this point Tony pulled over and exited the car to apologize to the car's owner, a man named Martin Dutcher.

Tony approached Martin to apologize, but Martin began to shout at Tony, getting noticeably angrier and angrier. Tony denies doing anything to provoke Martin, but Courtney claims that Tony grabbed Martin at one point. As Martin was getting angrier and angrier, Tony turned away to head back towards their car, at this point, Martin then grabbed a tire iron out of their car and began to club Tony repeatedly in the right shoulder. Martin's face flared up, his eyes filled with hatred as he continued to smash Tony's right shoulder. Tony fell unconscious, and Courtney ran out of the car to help Tony. Martin swung at Courtney, who was able to block the blow. Then, Martin was shot in the shoulder by a nearby police officer who was on the scene. Martin was taken into custody, and Tony was taken to the hospital.

Once at the hospital, Tony was treated for a fractured collar bone and vertebrae, along with several torn muscles and ligaments in their right shoulder. Tony also had to do several weeks of physical therapy to help regain feeling in their right arm after their gruesome injury. It total, Tony's medical bills cost $67,575, and Tony's physical therapy and rehabilitation bills cost $58,780. And even after healing from their injury, Tony was never the same golf player ever again. Every time Tony would swing the club, the pain of the injury still lingered. Tony lost their sponsorships, and any hope of competing professionally, was over.

However, this attack was not the first time Martin Dutcher had assaulted someone. Years earlier, Martin had attacked several college students. During his trial, he was found Not Guilty for reason of mental defect. It had been discovered that Martin had suffered from an extreme anger disorder known as Intermediate Explosive Disorder, or IED for short. As a result of the verdict, Martin was forced to attend Polk Hospital, a psychiatric hospital that treated all types of mental patients. Martin was committed in 2000, and was required to stay two years at the minimum, but after that point, it was up to Polk Hospital to decide when to release him from their care.

Once at Polk, Martin was treated by his primary physician, Dr. D.P. Dehnert. It was Dr. Dehnert's job to prescribe medication to Martin, and oversee his rehabilitation process. Dr. Dehnert was able to prescribe Martin drugs that significantly reduced his level of anger. Within two years, Martin's condition had improved dramatically. And most witnesses at the Hospital note that Martin was completely normal and pleasant to be around. However, when Dr. Dehnert tried to reduce Martin's prescription, he relapsed and lashed out again, including one instance where he got angry and grabbed a nurse named Shelly Cotone.

There were two issues with the drugs being given to Martin, the first being that most medical studies at the time had noted an exponential decrease in the effectiveness of the drugs overtime. Eventually, Martin would need to be treated through some other method. Secondly, the drugs used were incredibly expensive, and many witnesses note that Polk had been suffering from financial difficulties at the time. Some exhibits even show the Hospital had been denied the funding to pay for the medication needed to treat Martin.

After two years had passed, Martin's mandatory period in the Hospital was over. Still, Dr. Dehnert recommended they keep Martin committed. Dehnert's decision was overridden by the chief administrator at the Hospital, Dr. Robin Kaplan. Dr. Kaplan granted Martin a release from the Hospital, claiming that Martin's calm demeanor at the Hospital had indicated that he had been rehabilitated from his IED. Dr. Dehnert objected to Martin's release and ultimately resigned from the Hospital in protest. But regardless, Martin was released on December 26th 2003. And while he was still required to take his medication prescribed to him and attend group sessions every week, the Hospital would no longer be able to ensure constant monitoring of him 24/7.

Shortly after the attack on Tony, Martin Dutcher committed suicide. With Tony's future career over before it began as a result of Martin's attack, Tony filed suit against Polk Hospital for Negligence. The Plaintiff claims that Martin's attack on Tony was a result of Martin's IED condition that had not been cured by Polk. The Plaintiff asserts that Polk Hospital was negligent for releasing Martin from care before his IED had been cured, and that as a result of that breach of duty, Tony had suffered damages.

This case is non-bifurcated, which means that the Plaintiff must also pursue some type of damages. The Plaintiff can seek damages for the Medical and Rehabilitation bills for Tony's injury, or also seek damages to pay for Tony's lost potential career earnings as a Professional Golf Player.

The Defense argues that they were simply acting as reasonable psychiatrists, and that they released Martin because they had genuinely believed he was ready to return to society. Aside from that, the defense can also argue against paying for damages towards Tony's potential future earnings, as several witnesses note that Tony had been suffering from a chronic shoulder condition before the attack from Martin Dutcher. The Defense can argue that Tony's future career was anything but guaranteed, and that Tony's shoulder condition could have prevented them from having a successful career even if they had never been attacked by Martin.

Plaintiff

 * Tony Kissner
 * Dr. D.P. Dehnert

Defense

 * Dr. Robin Kaplan
 * Dr. Jules M. Siegfried

Swing

 * Shelly Cotone
 * Dr. J. Whitney Gerkin
 * Francis Leo
 * Sandy Trienen
 * Emile Chadman
 * Jo Mauldin
 * Courtney Sharrow

Other Persons of Interest

 * Martin Dutcher
 * Grace Hobbes

Other Case References

 * Robin Kaplan's CV includes a publication titled "The Strange Case of State v. Ellis." This is an obvious reference to the case State v. Ellis from 2000.
 * Kaplan's CV also has an article titled, "Altitude-Induced Psychosis on Everest" with Bartlett Baker. This is a reference to Gilbertson v. The Everest Experience and the witness Bartlett Baker from that case.
 * Emile Chadman mentions that Bobbie Whittacker, a witness from Gilbertson v. The Everest Experience, works at the insurance company, Midlands Mutual.
 * Grace Hobbes' CV states that Grace was a former team physician for the Midlands Marauders, the hockey team from State v. Harmon.
 * In Walton v. BNN, Riley Faith's CV documented an award Riley won titled "The Francis Leo Award for Excellence in Journalism." This is a reference to the witness Francis Leo in this case.
 * Also in Walton v. BNN, witness Gorgie Larson states that a common advertiser on Gorgie's blog was Kissner Golf Instruction.

Trivia

 * This is one of only a few AMTA cases to not be bifurcated, along with Vickers v. Sandy Hearst, Empowermilk v. Jerri Anderson and Winter v. TBD.
 * Before every round, the Plaintiff team was required to fill out a form indicating what damages they planned on pursuing during the round. This form included five types of damages that the Plaintiff must pursue at least one of. These damages included Medical Expenses, Rehabilitation Expenses, Mental Pain and Suffering, Income Lost from Future Career Earnings, and Punitive Damages.
 * In Winter v. TBD, a woman named Francis Leo was the former chief editor at TBD. This is a different Francis Leo from the witness in this case, because that Francis Leo was 57 years old in 2014, while the Francis Leo in this case is 28 years old in 2005. Their ages don't even remotely match up, meaning they're different people.