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MORGANTOWN - A class action lawsuit has been filed in Monongalia County Circuit Court on behalf of individuals who were unknowingly recorded by cameras hidden in non-public restrooms at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
The suit was filed Sept. 1 against West Virginia University Hospitals Inc. and West Virginia United Health System Inc. by an individual identified as P.J.P. on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated.
On June 26, hospital employees discovered a digital recording device beneath a sink inside a staff restroom. Law enforcement was notified and the device was turned over to investigators.
Following an examination of the recording device and additional investigative efforts, law enforcement identified physician Lance Parks as the individual who placed the recording device. Investigators also determined that the device contained video footage depicting eight hospital employees who had been unknowingly recorded while partially nude.
Days later, a second device was located in a clogged toilet in a non-public, staff restroom.
Parks was subsequently terminated and is facing eight misdemeanor counts of criminal invasion of privacy and one felony count of distribution and exhibiting computer-generated child pornography based on the footage found on the initial camera and evidence turned up during the execution of a search warrant at his residence.
According to the lawsuit, P.J.P is an employee of West Virginia University Hospitals who was secretly recorded.
The filing claims the defendants are liable for Parks’ actions while he was under their employment.
"The Defendants owed a duty to Plaintiff and other employees to provide a reasonably safe facility, to properly hire, train, and supervise its employees, as well as to see that employees were not subjected to invasion of privacy or other such conduct while at their place of employment," the lawsuit states.
"The Defendants negligently and grossly breached these duties by failing to provide a reasonably safe environment protected from breaches of privacy at Ruby Memorial to Plaintiff and other employees."
The suit alleges invasion of privacy; breach of confidentiality; violations of the Human Rights Act; violation of the West Virginia Constitution; negligent supervision; negligent infliction of emotional distress; violation of the West Virginia Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act; and negligence against the hospital system.
Attorneys for the plaintiff are asking the court to certify the class identified in the lawsuit and demanding a jury trial to determine relief for past and future pain and suffering as well as compensatory and punitive damages.