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Smith v. Carolina Manor Treatment Center8/20/2002
UNPUBLISHED
A decision without a published opinion is authority only in the case in which such decision is rendered and should not be cited in any other case in any court for any other purpose, nor should any court consider any such decision for any purpose except in the case in which such decision is rendered. See Rule of Appellate Procedure 30 (e)(3).
In the spring of 1995, Thomas A. Kelly was a chemical dependency counselor at Carolina Manor Treatment Center (Carolina Manor). Mr. Kelly had previously been addicted to alcohol and drugs. After completing treatment and staying clean since 5 December 1985, he decided that he wanted to help others who were also addicted. He started doing volunteer work and then went back to school where he obtained a masters degree in counseling.
Plaintiff helped found Trinity Manufacturing, Inc. (Trinity), a chemical company of which he was the president, the CEO, on theBoard of Directors (Board), and owned 22.63% of the outstanding shares of stock. On 25 April 1995, he admitted himself to Carolina Manor for a twenty-eight day inpatient treatment program for cocaine, alcohol, cannabis and polysubstance abuse. Mr. Kelly was assigned as his counselor. Plaintiff testified that he had explicitly told Carolina Manor and Mr. Kelly that he did not want anyone at Trinity to know that he was in treatment for his addiction.
While in treatment, plaintiff was concerned about how his business was being run and managed in his absence. He feared that certain employees were trying to take over his business since he was away in treatment. Because he was focused on business instead of his treatment and recovery, he was given a twelve-hour pass to leave Carolina Manor. During this time, plaintiff went to Trinity in an attempt to deal with his concerns. Plaintiff testified that the twelve-hour pass "let me know that it was worse than what I thought it was."
On 9 May 1995, with plaintiff still focused on business rather than treatment, Mr. Kelly suggested a business meeting at Carolina Manor with key people from Trinity to help relieve plaintiff's concerns. Plaintiff signed a release, which authorized Carolina Manor to disclose plaintiff's treatment dates and to give updates on his progress to Victor Perreault, Chuck Davis, and Rusty Goodwin. Mr. Kelly placed a call to the business manager at Trinity and set up a meeting for that afternoon with plaintiff's key employees. Plaintiff testified that Mr. Kelly had him sign therelease after Mr. Kelly had already contacted Trinity to set up the meeting.
On the afternoon of 9 May 1995, Mr. Perreault, Mr. Davis, Mr. Goodwin, and Preston Allen met with plaintiff, Mr. Kelly, and a family counselor, Ada Jackson Williams. Mr. Allen, a recovering addict, was the person who suggested that plaintiff go to Carolina Manor for his drug abuse treatment. Mr. Davis was the business development manager at Trinity. Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Perreault were both on the Board. Plaintiff testified that, when he entered the meeting, Mr. Kelly was already in conversation with these Trinity employees. Plaintiff was under the impression that Mr. Kelly had already discussed his cocaine addiction with these Trinity employees.
Mr. Davis testified that, during the meeting, he gave plaintiff a letter for the purpose of getting plaintiff to stay in treatment and get well. He testified, "I believe it was Rusty Goodwin that had told me that we needed to go try to see if we could talk [plaintiff] into staying in the treatment center. But it could have been either Gina [plaintiff's wife] or Mr. Kelly." He further testified that he wrote the letter on his own and then showed it to the other Trinity employees b
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