SMETHPORT – The lawsuit filed against Beacon Light Behavioral
Health Systems Inc. by a former employee who was on duty when a
child drowned in an accident in 2004 must be amended in order for
the suit to continue, ordered McKean County Judge John Yoder on
Dec. 4.
The suit, filed by Janel Riel through attorney H.B. Fink of Port
Allegany, alleges, in part, that Beacon Light pressured Riel to
resign following the death of Dustin Dembinski on May 23, 2004, and
that Beacon Light published untrue statements regarding the
circumstances around his death.
Preliminary objections were filed by Beacon Light’s attorneys,
Joseph Selep and Sharon Hall of Zimmer Kunz of Pittsburgh, asking
Yoder to direct Riel “to file a more specific pleading with regard
to the allegations directed to this defendant.”
Yoder’s order granted the preliminary objections, giving Riel 20
days to file an amended complaint.
Explaining the applicable laws which he used in coming to his
decision, Yoder first cited the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil
Procedure.
“Each cause of action stated in a complaint and any special
damages related thereto shall be stated in a separate count
containing a demand for relief,” he cited.
The only cause of action cited in the original complaint is a
complaint in trespass – not defamation or wrongful discharge or
fraud, Yoder points out, saying that is “what the court can
surmise.”
He also cited case law which calls for specificity in the
complaint.
“A complaint for defamation must specifically identify on its
face what the allegedly defamatory statements consist of and the
identity of those to whom they were made,” he wrote, citing case
law. And a complaint of fraud, if that was what had been intended,
must be clearly spelled out.
Riel and Ryan Swanson, the other former Beacon Light employee
working with her that day, had taken six residents of a Beacon
Light group home to Heffner Reservoir to fly kites on May 23,
2004.
Dustin Dembinski, 14, and other group home residents entered the
water. Dustin drowned in what was determined to be an accident.
Beacon Light had reported Riel and Swanson to ChildLine, the
state child abuse hotline.
An administrative law judge eventually cleared both Riel and
Swanson of any wrongdoing in conjunction with the accident and
expunged the child abuse allegations from their records.
