AMERICAN Memorial Park, represented by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, denies any liability for the injury sustained by a businessman.
Yoon Suk Chang sued the park, and has asked the federal court to award him damages in the amount of $1 million.
Chang, represented by attorney William M. Fitzgerald, filed the lawsuit in the District Court for the NMI on Dec. 7, 2021.
In response to the lawsuit, the federal park, through Assistant U.S. Attorney Mikel Schwab, said the lawsuit should be dismissed because the park is not liable for the acts or omissions of independent contractors.
The court has no subject matter jurisdiction over claims against actions by federal employees that are a matter of choice and guided by policies relating to access, historic and natural resource preservation, and conservation, Schwab said.
“The court lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter of all or some of the claims asserted in the complaint (or Plaintiff has not satisfied all of the threshold requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 134[(b]),” the U.S government lawyer said.
Schwab said the plaintiff’s alleged injuries and/or damages were not proximately caused by the acts of the park’s agents, servants, and employees.
He said the “plaintiff’s alleged injuries and damages were caused solely and proximately by the acts or omissions of other parties, persons, or entities, or their servants, agents, representatives, and employees, none of whom are agencies or employees of the United States for whom the United States has any liability pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act.”
The plaintiff’s claim is barred by the discretionary function exception to the Federal Torts Claims Acts’ waiver of sovereign immunity, Schwab said, adding that the plaintiff is not entitled to a jury trial.
On Dec. 8, 2019, the plaintiff injured himself at American Memorial Park which is controlled, operated, supervised, managed and maintained by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Chang’s lawyer said the claims were presented to the appropriate federal agency on March 22, 2021, and acknowledged and received by letter dated May 25, 2021 by the chief ranger of American Memorial Park.
The lawsuit stated that on Dec. 8, 2019, the plaintiff, along with his two sons, went to the park where they played on the grassy area adjacent to the amphitheater.
The plaintiff’s younger son started to go toward the parking lot away from the grassy area so the plaintiff followed him in order to stop him from going there.
As he started toward the parking lot, his foot went into a hole, which was about one foot deep. The hole caught his foot, causing him to fall violently to the ground, twisting his ankle.
Fitzgerald said his client stayed on the ground for about 15 minutes because he was dazed and had almost passed out because of severe pain.
“Following the fall, Plaintiff did not go to the hospital, but applied ice and took aspirin, but by Dec. 10, 2019, the pain was too intense and he went to Brothers Oriental Medicine Clinic, which recommended x-ray. Plaintiff then went to Pacific Medical Center where he was x-rayed,” the complaint stated.
Throughout January 2020, the pain in the plaintiff’s ankle persisted so he visited the Commonwealth Health Center on numerous occasions and was ultimately referred to an orthopedic specialist in March 2020.
A CHC doctor recommended that plaintiff undergo an MRI, but because of Covid, the hospital was unable to refer him to Guam. Saipan did not have MRI capability.
With the pain persisting, the plaintiff decided to go to Korea in June 2020 for treatment. He said Korean doctors were able to diagnose the problem with an MRI.
On July 7, 2020, the doctors in Korea performed surgery, which included debridement of the ankle and what is known as a Brostrom operation and subfibulare removal.
The plaintiff was in the hospital in Korea for five days and was unable to return to his family in Saipan until August, spending almost three months in Korea in preparation and post-surgery recuperation.
Prior to this accident, the lawsuit said, the plaintiff was in the construction business in Saipan and had many projects pending when he was injured.
Because his work required substantial physical activity, which he was unable to do because of his ankle’s condition, and the fact that the plaintiff was away from Saipan for almost three months, he suffered financial losses in his business, his complaint stated.
“Plaintiff was unable to make any money in 2020 because of his injury, and was forced to leave Saipan to go to Spokane, Washington alone without his family in an attempt to find some type of work that he is qualified to do, but does not require the physical activity that his construction business did,” the complaint stated.
He suffered financial loss because he was unable to finish an apartment complex he was building and, therefore was unable to collect any rent in 2020 and 2021.
The plaintiff said he has been advised by the doctors in Korea that he may need additional surgery and perhaps an ankle replacement.
