Herrera V. Mesilla Valley Hospital

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What was the legal issue in this case? The plaintiff was a patient at Mesilla Valley Hospital at the inpatient mental facility, while she was seeking treatment there; one of their staff Joseph Herrera (technician) sexually battered her. Plaintiff is suing the County of Dona Ana, because Herrera used to work for them as a detention sergeant, during his employment with the county he was known to be sexually abusive towards female inmates. His supervisors were aware of his behavior and were arranging his suspension and eventually terminating him; nevertheless Herrera quit before any further action was taken against him. Before his resignation Herrera asked for a letter of recommendation, he was given one that mentioned he was an excellent worker …show more content…

The court acknowledged that this recommendation was negligent, since they botched to prevent destruction from happening to someone else. Should it have mattered that the former employer’s investigation was not able to confirm all of the allegations against Herrera? Explain your answer. Herrera’s resigned from his position before his investigation can be fully completed. However, the court’s resolution that the County is liable for negligence is applicable. The County had the choice of not providing any information; instead they gave an exceptional recommendation. Since the county’s recommendation was outstanding MVH might have been relaxed in conducting their background check and may have not been very efficient based on the information provided to them? The County became negligent when they gave MVH inaccurate information, despite of whether Herrera was found to have had any sexual misdemeanors, the fact that there were quite a few accusations and grievances against him was enough to make the County reconsider giving him any type of recommendation. Since the investigation was not entirely implemented it would have been a wiser decision if the county abstained from having any sort of opinion on Herrera’s performance rather than giving false information. (Walsh,

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