A federal judge in Seattle has thrown out a $21.5 million verdict won by a Springfield businessman who says that he suffered a brain injury after being hit on the head in 2011 by a sliding glass door while aboard a cruise ship during a journey around the world.
In tossing the jury verdict won last fall by James Hausman, former owner of The Gold Center, U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein determined that Hausman had destroyed emails relevant to the case rather than turn them over to Holland America Line, defendant in the suit.
Read Rothstein’s ruling here.
“It is this trial judge’s responsibility to ensure that a party is not the victim of a miscarriage of justice,” Rothstein wrote in her ruling filed in court today. “Based on the evidence presented…this trial judge concludes that a miscarriage of justice occurred in this case.”
Central to the reversal in the case was Amy Mizeur, Hausman’s former personal assistant who surfaced after the trial, alleging that her former boss had faked the extent of his injuries and destroyed emails that should have been turned over to Holland America. Mizeur also accused Hausman of tampering with witness testimony and falsely testifying at trial.
Mizeur produced some emails that Hausman had not disclosed prior to trial, and the judge focused on those. One was particularly damning.
In court, Hausman testified that he avoids ladders because he fears falling and re-injuring himself. That’s not what he said in an email to Mizeur that she produced after trial.
“I spent most of the day on a 10’ later (sic), with a fire axe chopping off the ice that had accumulated over the front porch of the house, followed by the garage hose, on hot water to melt the ice, followed by a couple of avalanches of snow and ice off of the roof, followed by me scooping the snow and ice of (sic) of the walk way,” Hausman wrote in the message to Mizeur sent on Jan. 14, 2014. “Some of the ice was 15” thick, very heavy to pick up or scoop. I am pretty sore. Every where (sic).”
After being struck by the door, Hausman claimed that he had seizures and other problems with his health that limited his ability to perform routine tasks. But Mizeur testified that she watched him refinish a wood floor, cook, climb ladders and stairs, drive more than 500 miles in a single stretch, load a boat onto a trailer, sit in noisy bars and restaurants without being disturbed and carry luggage, bags of coins and other heavy loads.
“Each of these indicates normal activity and is at variance with Mr. Hausman’s slow, unsteady demeanor at trial and evidentiary hearing,” the judge wrote in her ruling.
During a hearing, Hausman denied that he had ever had a romantic interest in Mizeur, but the judge found that claim undermined by emails that Hausman sent to Mizeur.
“A mild example of this is an email Mr. Hausman sent to Ms. Mizeur on January 14, 2014: ‘if you wake up at 2 in the morning, please call me. What is wrong? Outside of me being an asshole,’” the judge wrote in her ruling. “These emails do not evidence a strict employer/employee relationship.”
Hausman painted Mizeur as a disgruntled ex-employee who turned against him after she was fired for forging a check from his personal bank account last spring. He said that she threatened to “ruin” him if he did not give her money.
But the judge found that it wasn’t unusual for Hausman to give Mizeur large amounts of money. She said that Mizeur was credible when she testified that Hausman had given her permission to write the check and sign his name to it, and she found it “telling” that Hausman did not involve police in the matter.
“In short, this Court finds Ms. Mizeur to be a truthful witness,” Rothstein wrote in her decision throwing out the verdict and ordering a new trial.
Hausman was a different matter.
“As a witness, he came across evasive and untrustworthy,” the judge wrote in her decision. “He appeared to weigh each answer, not for its truthfulness, but to assess whether it would damage his case. Mr. Hausman also seemed to capitalize on his alleged brain injury when it was convenient for him. He was confused or claimed memory loss when confronted with a question or exhibit that appeared to undermine his claims, yet was animated and full of information when his testimony supported his case. In addition, Mr. Hausman’s testimony is undermined by his own words, as evidenced by the emails that Ms. Mizeur was able to recover from her computer and phone.”
Hausman wasn’t happy when he learned that he would be required to turn over emails to Holland America.
“He was angry,” Mizeur testified during a hearing held to determine whether the jury’s verdict should stand. “He was just panicked. Completely panicked.”
Mizeur’s testimony was buttressed by a statement from Josh Wagoner, a Gold Center manager, who said that Hausman was “livid” when he received the demand for emails and that he had “never seen Mr. Hausman angrier than he was that day.”
Mizeur testified that Hausman was particularly upset by demands for emails containing the words “love,” “sex” and “relationship.” She said that he former boss spent days deleting emails.
“Several days,” Mizeur testified. “Non-stop. He really was not talkative. He was just glued to the computer screen. … I was standing right there. I was watching him.”
Mizeur testified that Hausman also required her to delete emails from her computer and telephone, and she also said that Hausman told her that he had used a magnet to damage the hard drive of a computer at his home.
“When asked why Mr. Hausman deleted his emails, she (Mizeur) stated that he was convinced that he would lose his lawsuit if the emails were disclosed to defendants,” the judge wrote in her decision.
Citing the contents of an email from a Yahoo account that Hausman disclosed after Mizeur came forward, the judge rejected a contention from Hausman that emails not turned over prior to trial were irrelevant.
“(G)iven that this court has determined that Mr. Hauman deliberately deleted emails for the purpose of keeping evidence from defendants, the court must assume the deleted or non-disclosed emails were relevant,” Rothstein wrote. “Indeed, just the one document produced by Mr. Hausman from his Yahoo account – the email to his mother – provides a treasure trove of information. For instance, it reveals that his wife’s behavior may be the cause of Mr. Hausman’s alleged symptoms (stating that Ms. Hausman’s ‘pack rat’ tendencies sends him into ‘convulsions/shaking’), that Ms. Mizeur was intimately involved in his daily life (stating that Ms. Mizeur ‘is like [his] left arm’), and, perhaps most importantly, it reveals that Mr. Hausman takes tranquilizers (stating that he has ‘to take tranquilizers to go home’). … It is impossible to know what defendants would have discovered in the Yahoo account had it been disclosed, and likewise, it is impossible to know where those discoveries would have led.”
Neither Hausman nor representatives from Holland America could be immediately reached for comment.
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Dec 31, 2015 – Jan 6, 2016.
