By Bryan Corbin
Evansville (IN) CourierPress
October 5, 2007
Evansville residents will get to see their Indiana Supreme Court in action when the five justices travel to Evansville's Civic Center to hear a workplace-bullying case Wednesday.
The high court usually hears cases in an ornate courtroom in the Statehouse in Indianapolis. Occasionally, as a public-outreach measure, the justices will convene court in other cities. Evansville is the hometown of Chief Justice Randall Shepard, who was once a Vanderburgh County judge.
The Court will be in session at 3 p.m. Wednesday in Room 301 of the Civic Center. The public is invited to attend and hear the attorneys' arguments, which are expected to last about 40 minutes. The justices will then field questions from the audience.
The case is an appeal of a lawsuit originally filed in Marion County between two medical professionals who worked at St. Francis Hospitals in Indianapolis. Joseph E. Doescher was chief perfusionist at the hospital, in charge of operating a heart-lung machine that keeps patients alive during open-heart surgery. Dr. Daniel H. Raess is a heart surgeon.
Dispute started in 2001 According to court records, the dispute began in October 2001 when Doescher had to be absent because of personal business, and lining up a replacement delayed Raess from performing an emergency heart surgery ã prompting an outburst by Raess at co-workers.
Doescher alleged that days later, Raess confronted him about the absence and they argued. Doescher claimed Raess had his fists at his sides and yelled, "You're over. You're history. You're finished," court records said.
Doescher claimed he suffered such anxiety and depression from the confrontation that he could not return to work. Doescher sued Raess for assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. A Marion County Superior Court jury sided with Doescher on the assault count, awarding him $325,000 in damages.
Raess appealed, and the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the verdict and ordered a new trial. Doescher now has appealed that ruling up to the Supreme Court, seeking to get the appeals court decision overturned so that the earlier verdict and damages would stand.
Previously, the Indiana Court of Appeals found that the trial court judge made two errors: by improperly allowing one of Doescher's expert witnesses to testify that Raess was a "workplace abuser" and the altercation "an episode of workplace bullying," and by improperly refusing to read jurors a jury instruction Raess had requested. The Indiana Supreme Court will consider those same issues.
Attorneys for Raess and Doescher each will have 20 minutes to make their arguments.
The justices, who are known to interrupt attorneys frequently during arguments, typically will take a case under advisement and rule at a later date. The hearing also is scheduled to be broadcast live on WNIN-PBS9, the court announced.
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Prior coverage of the "bullying" case
Doctor must pay in bullying case and
Hospital bullying case underway
The expert witness in the trial referred to above was Dr. Gary Namie, Director, Workplace Bullying Institute.
