Prior to the start of the closing arguments, Scot Thompson, owner/partner of Saipan Dental Care, apologized to the jurors and federal Judge Mark W. Bennett for having a “brain freeze” on Friday.
Yesterday, Thompson confirmed he was assaulted by mixed martial arts fighter Kelvin David “The Big Hit” Fitial in Feb. 2010 as reported in the news.
On Friday, during cross-examination by attorney Stephen Nutting, Thompson said he was slapped three times in the face and poked in the right eye by their former dentist, Dr. Masha Maxim, the plaintiff, on May 24, 2010.
When Nutting, Maxim’s lawyer, showed a news article stating that Thompson was assaulted by Fitial in Feb. 2010, Thompson said he could not recall the year when the incident happened.
Thompson said he was embarrassed to see a doctor to have his left black eye checked as a result of Fitial’s assault.
He added that Fitial punched him 20 more times.
When asked by Nutting if the assault happened in 2009 or in 2010, Thompson said he did not want to perjure himself.
Bennett then excused the jurors and reprimanded Thompson for saying he did not want to commit perjury while almost committing it.
Bennett said he would not allow a witness to knowingly give deceptive answers.
When asked for a statement, Ray Quichocho, counsel for Thompson, told Variety in an e-mail: “I decided not to give any additional comments at this time, since the jury will be deliberating by tomorrow, other than to say that my closing focused on the elements of Mr. Thompson’s claim of battery and how the evidence show by the greater weight of the evidence that Mr. Thompson satisfied all the elements through the testimonies of witnesses, including Dr. Maxim, and exhibits admitted in evidence.”
Michael Dotts, who represented Dental Care and its owners Rod Stewart and Thompson, told jurors Maxim “quit over money,” and “declared war.”
Citing the defendants’ witnesses, Dotts described Maxim as a “bad dentist.”
But Nutting said there was no patient who testified to substantiate the complaints against Maxim’s dental procedures.
Nutting said Maxim was forced to resign after she informed management of her objection to perform orthodontics which was not within her scope of expertise.
Nutting said Maxim was to be placed under the supervision of a dental assistant.
Maxim, her lawyer said, learned that a dental assistant was performing orthodontics services to which she objected.
