Civil rights lawyer successful in appeal of federal false arrest case
In Nguyen v. US, the 11th Circuit recently held that a doctor who was unlawfully arrested could sue the federal government for false arrest, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
The facts of the case are interesting. Dr. Nguyen was born in Vietnam and served in the South Vietnamese army as a combat physician during the Vietnam War. He was imprisoned and forced to do hard labor for a year after the Communists took control. Upon his release, he attempted to escape the country multiple times which resulted in additional arrests. Eventually, he made his way to America after spending months in a refugee camp in Thailand. He attained an American medical license, and in 1984, he bought a practice in Trenton, Florida. He was the only physician for the small town of 1,500 residents. Dr. Nguyen then became a US citizen in 1986.
In 2000, Dr. Nguyen was arrested for the delivery of a controlled substance that was not prescribed in good faith. Specifically, he was said to have given Valium and Lortab to a patient that was a confidential informant without first conducting a medical exam. But two months later the charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence.
The negative publicity and harm done to Dr. Nguyen’s practice was tremendous. Many health insurance companies canceled their contracts with him causing his practice to lose a crippling amount of patients. It also took months for Dr. Nguyen to reestablish his prescription privileges. The damage done to his practice was the same as if he had been found guilty of the charges.
The record clearly revealed that no crime existed. All evidence showed that a medical examination was conducted each time the confidential informant went to Dr. Nguyen for treatment. The evidence consisted in part of videotapes which actually captured each examination. The sheriff’s deputy who made the arrest made it clear that he relied on the statements from the DEA agent in charge of the case when typing the arrest affidavit. It was based on these false statements that an arrest warrant was issued.
Dr. Nguyen brought suit against the sheriff’s deputy, the sheriff, and the United States; however, the trial judge dismissed the claim against the U.S. based on sovereign immunity. A jury returned a verdict in favor of Dr. Nguyen for over $1.8 million against the other defendants. Dr. Nguyen then appealed arguing the US should not have been dismissed, because the US had waived its sovereign immunity in the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). The 11th Circuit agreed.
We did not represent Dr. Nguyen, but our civil trial lawyers have assisted other clients who were falsely arrested and prosecuted for something they did not do. It is difficult to bring malicious prosecutions and false arrest cases because the amount of proof needed to win such a case is high. But, once the case gets to a jury, the verdict can be very large. Juries seems to understand that law enforcement should be certain that someone has committed a crime before they arrest that person and put them through the humiliation of a criminal prosecution. Dr. Nguyen's jury understood that.
