Nursing Home Nipple Tweaker Who Lost His Job Sues His Attorney

A Warrenville man is suing his attorney, claiming he botched his disciplinary case for alleged nursing home abuse by failing to show up for the administrative hearing.

David Dufur filed a legal malpractice suit on Sept. 23 in DuPage County Circuit Court against Addison attorney Dalton P. Grief.

According to the complaint, Dufur had retained Grief to represent him in an administrative hearing before the Illinois Department of Public Health over an incident that occurred June 20, 2011, when Dufur said he playful tweaked a patient’s nipple in an attempt to cheer him up while dressing him for bed.

Another certified nurse’s assistant was present in the room and reported the horseplay tweaking to a supervisor. Dufur was terminated by the nursing home and administrative charges were filed against him claiming he violated the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act.

Dufur filed for an administrative hearing contesting the allegations so he could retain his professional health care license. A hearing date was set for Dec. 17, 2013, and notice was sent to Grief, the plaintiff’s attorney.

The plaintiff claims his attorney failed to notify him of the hearing date. He also alleges his repeated phone calls to Grief were ignored. Eventually, Dufur was told by Grief that he was still waiting for a hearing date to be set and that it was a bureaucratic holdup, the complaint alleges.

On the appointed date in December 2013, the state health department’s legal counsel arrived in Chicago for the hearing, but neither the plaintiff nor the attorney showed up. Dufur maintains he would have appeared even if his attorney hadn’t.

Grief allegedly said he had been detained in another trial and was given three days within which to submit a letter stating so.

The suit states that plaintiff’s attorney’s failure to file the required written motion within three days as directed resulted in an administrative ruling by default against Dufur on Jan. 31, 2014, and the case was closed.

Dufur also maintains that his attorney did not file a request for another judicial hearing within 15 days after the January date. He only learned of the final decision by checking the department’s website, where he saw the final judgment revoking his healthcare license.

The plaintiff is convinced the allegations against him would have been dismissed had his attorney acted in a professional and competent manner. As result, the plaintiff says he is now permanently unemployed and unemployable in any other patient capacity in the healthcare field because he has been “branded” as an abuser.

The plaintiff is accusing his attorney of legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty.

Dufur is seeking $500,000 in damages and is represented by Chicago attorneys Craig L. Manchik and Lynne Plum Duffey.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in DuPage County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt and it only represents one side of the story.

Go take a look at our Facebook page