Nurses Who Quit LI Nursing Facility Could Go To Supreme Court: Reports

SMITHTOWN, NY — Ten Filipino nurses and their attorney, who were prosecuted in 2007 by former Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota after the nurses all resigned from a Smithtown nursing facility on the same day, could see their case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

On April 7, 2006, the nurses resigned over working conditions at Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Center, where they said they worked longer-than-expected shifts, had substandard housing, and lower pay and insurance benefits than what they were promised, according to court papers, Newsday reported.

Their attorney, Felix Vinluan, in 2006 told the nurses there was a breach of contract, and they could resign as long as it was not during a shift, according to the Institute for Justice. The nurses quit after they ensured their shifts were covered and patients were cared for, the institute said.

The Institute for Justice is a nonprofit, public interest law firm with the mission of ending "widespread abuses of government power and secure the constitutional rights that allow all Americans to pursue their dreams."

Spota charged Vinluan and the nurses with conspiracy, child endangerment and endangering the welfare of a physically disabled person, Newsday reported.

The U.S. Supreme Court could decide by early February whether to hear a petition filed on behalf of the nurses and Vinluan, who was arrested after he gave the nurses legal advice, Newsday reported. The 11 are challenging the right of Spota and a colleague to absolute immunity, which blocks them from suing in civil court, according to Newsday.

A New York appellate court in 2009 ordered the prosecution of Vinluan and the nurses be stopped because the charges brought against them were "without or in excess of jurisdiction," according to the Institute for Justice. The court found that Vinluan's First Amendment Rights were violated, and the nurses' Thirteenth Amendment rights were violated.

Vinluan and the nurses in 2010 filed a federal lawsuit claiming Spota and his assistant, Leonard Lato, fabricated evidence and worked with the nurses' employer, Sentosa Care, to secure an indictment to punish them and discourage other nurses from resigning, Newsday reported.

The court ruled Spota and Lalo had prosecutorial immunity and were shielded from liability.

The Institute for Justice said it is helping the nurses and Vinluan ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case against Spota and Lato.

Spota and his aide, Chris McPartland, were sentenced to 5 years in prison in 2021 after they were found guilty of obstruction by a jury in 2019 for covering up an incident during which a man was beaten after he stole a duffel bag from a former police chief filled with sex toys and pornography.