TCPalm: Florida's Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches - Printer-friendly story
Judge removes himself in case of deported immigrant suing Martin Memorial

By Melissa E. Holsman

Thursday, January 22, 2009

STUART — Chief Circuit Judge William Roby has removed himself from an upcoming trial pitting the guardian of a brain-damaged Guatemalan native against Martin Memorial Medical Center over his 2003 deportation after having lived at the hospital’s acute care unit for two years.

Roby ordered his disqualification to preside over the civil kidnapping and false imprisonment case after Luis Alberto Jimenez’ cousin, Montejo Gaspar Montejo of Indiantown, filed court papers Thursday noting that Roby once worked for the Stuart law firm that had assisted Martin Memorial gain a court order allowing the hospital to fly Jimenez back to Guatemala.

It’s the latest of many twists in the lawsuit that was initially dismissed by a judge, but reinstated by an appeals court, which ruled the original trial court had no jurisdiction to enter a ruling that amounted to an order of deportation.

Jimenez, an illegal alien who suffered devastating brain injuries in a 2000 car crash, racked up $2 million in unpaid medical bills while in the hospital’s care.

Roby order the trial — scheduled to begin May 4 — be reassigned to Circuit Judge Burton Conner.

West Palm Beach attorney Jack Scarola, who represents Montejo, said a trial judge already ruled Jimenez’ deportation “amounted to false imprisonment.â€