Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 26, 1993 TAG: 9311260049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Laurence Hammack Staff Writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Maureen Castern, an environmental engineer who has 44 different personalities, had claimed that Trigon Engineering Consultants Inc. fired her in 1992 without good cause.
The three-day trial in U.S. District Court in Roanoke is believed to be the first in Western Virginia under the 1992 Americans With Disabilities Act.
Castern had asserted that her mental illness did not interfere with her duties as manager of Trigon's Roanoke branch office.
The jury, however, decided Wednesday night that Trigon did not violate the Disabilities Act, and that Castern had in fact concealed the extent of her illness to the company.
But jurors, apparently feeling Trigon was not seriously harmed by Castern's misrepresentations, awarded the Greensboro company $1 in damages.
Castern said she filed suit because too many people do not understand that the mentally ill can function in society.
"I just think that everyone is entitled to stand up for themselves and not be prejudged because of a disability," she said. "We ought to be treated like real people."
Castern, 45, said her many personalities - which range from a little girl to an aggressive German man - were a way of coping with flashbacks to an incident in which she was abused as a child.
Castern's attorney, John Fishwick, argued that she has overcome her disability, and that most of her emotional problems occurred at night or on weekends.
"Yes, there is absolutely a dark side to her disability," Fishwick told the jury. "It's not so obvious as if she were to come in here with an eye missing or in a wheelchair. But she has learned to work around her disability."
Fain Rutherford, a Roanoke attorney who represented Trigon, said the company could not be expected to ignore Castern's illness - which included bizarre behavior at work and a history of suicide attempts at home.
He cited testimony of one incident at work when Castern was found crouched under a table in a darkened room, bleeding from her forehead and mumbling about trying to get some relief.
One co-worker testified that some of Castern's personalities - particularly the angry German man - emerged while she was at work.
Under the Disabilities Act, which was passed by Congress in 1991, employers are not allowed to discriminate against workers with disabilities. But it is up to workers to show in each case that they are qualified to perform the job properly.
Witnesses testified to a number of problems with Castern's work, including missing deadlines, making major mistakes and being disorganized.
A psychiatrist who has treated Castern testified that while she still has some episodes in which she loses contact with reality, she would have no problems working for Trigon.
But under cross-examination, the psychiatrist said he would not want his own doctor or baby sitter to be someone suffering from multiple personality disorder.
by CNB