By avid E. Frank
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
BOSTON, Mass. — A correction officer who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder was entitled to workers’ compensation after prisoners, and subsequently the media, accused him of throwing feces in the cell of pedophile priest John Geoghan, the Supreme Judicial Court has found.
The Department of Correction argued that the officer was not entitled to coverage where the publicity surrounding the incident at MCI Cedar Junction was the predominant cause of his injury and did not occur within the course of his employment.
But in a case of first impression, the SJC disagreed and affirmed a 2007 decision by the Department of Industrial Accidents Reviewing Board.
“In upholding an administrative judge’s award of partial disability payments to an employee of the [DOC] for a mental or emotional injury, the reviewing board of the DIA held that the phrase ‘occurring within any employment’ is not more narrow than ‘arising out of and in the course of employment,’” Justice Robert J. Cordy wrote on behalf of the court. “We affirm. “
In September 2003, several reports in the media accused the officer, Cosmo Bisazza, of harming Geoghan while he was housed in a special prison unit for sex offenders, pedophiles, murderers and gang members.
Bisazza’s photograph was published in the Boston Herald alongside a story that included repeated claims that he verbally and psychologically abused inmates, including Geoghan.
“What the court held for the first time here is that negative media publicity can be the source of a stress-related claim by an injured employee as long as its origins were in the workplace,” said the officer’s lawyer, Louis C. deBenedictis of Boston’s Quinn & Morris. “The reason I think the [DOC] fought so hard is they didn’t want to create this precedent, but by appealing it so many times that’s exactly what they did. “
DeBenedictis said the problems started when a serial child killer housed in Bisazza’s unit began threatening to “out” the guard over his alleged abuse of prisoners.
“Even before they started naming [Bisazza] in the paper, this serial child killer began taunting him and eventually caused him to go off the deep end and seek psychiatric care,” said deBenedictis. “Those taunts turned out to be true when the newspapers started naming him and showing his picture in the paper. Even though he was vindicated, the Department of Correction just left him high and dry. “
Because the injuries were emotional and psychological, the DOC’s lawyer, Vincent F. Massey, had asked the court to apply a higher standard than for a worker who suffered physical injuries. Massey referred questions to department spokeswoman Diane Wiffin, who expressed concern about the breadth of the decision.
“The subject of every news story is now a potential workers’ compensation claim if the article has any relationship to the subject’s workplace,” she said.
When asked to respond to deBenedictis’ accusations against the DOC, Wiffin declined to comment.
Copyright 2008 Dolan Media Newswires