Michael Hale wins judgment for son\'s emotional distress
By PATRICK CROWLEY
2/23/2005

Seventh grade youth hockey player Jordan Hale, the son of Maine mortgage broker, had just finished playing a game when a man burst into his team's locker room.

The man, Dr. Demetri Antoniou, was apparently upset with a body check his son received from that Hale, who was 13 at the time.

What happened next was the focus of a lawsuit that was just decided and resulted in a minor payout to Hale's family.

Hale's father Michael Hale sued Antoniou, an ear, nose and throat doctor, in Maine's Cumberland County Superior Court, accusing him of causing emotional distress to the teen during the incident that occurred after a Dec. 10, 2001 youth hockey game.

According to Hale's lawyer, attorney Michael Waxman of Portland, Antoniou stormed into the locker room, spewing profanities and castigating Hale for the hit on his son.

"This guy marched into the opposing locker room...and yelled profanities in a room full of half-dressed teenage boys," Waxman said in an interview. "He told Jordan, 'I'm going to get you' before the coach pushed him out.

"It was pretty outrageous behavior," Waxman said, adding that Antoniou was accused of raising a hockey stick and pointing it at Hale in a threatening way.

Antoniou's lawyer has acknowledged that his client entered the locker room and made statements he now regrets.

But attorney Peter DeTroy reportedly told the Portland Press Herald that his client "acted stupidly."

"But not every time people act stupidly should end up in a lawsuit," DeTroy said.

A jury disagreed, but did not hit Antoniou with heavy damages. He faces a judgment of just $320.

Waxman contends the suit was never about money. But he still expressed disappointment in the amount of the judgment.

"It's a very strange message to send," Waxman said. "By a vote of 9 to nothing the jury found we proved by preponderance of the evidence that (Antoniou) was liable of intentional infliction emotional distress. We proved his behavior was so outrageous that it can't be condoned in a civil society...and he caused severe emotional distress.

"I think a verdict of $50,000 would have sent a better message," he said. "The kid was affected for a couple of months. His play dropped off, he wouldn't check (other players), he lost interest in the sport, his grades fell off. For awhile he wasn't the same kid."

Hale, now 16, has since returned to playing hockey for his high school team.

Waxman described the jury's action as a "compromise verdict."

"I don't like verdicts that come in a 4 p.m. in the afternoon," he said. "Some people just want to get the hell out of the courtroom, so a compromise is reached.

"But I'm disappointed," Waxman. "This sends a message that we don't value our kids' mental health that much."

Article © MortgageDaily.com All Rights Reserved