LANCASTER – A Philadelphia man who claims he was sexually assaulted by his chiropractor has filed a lawsuit against the now-incarcerated doctor, the practice he worked for and a health organization that supposedly failed to report prior such incidents.
John Doe of Philadelphia filed suit in the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas on Feb. 9 versus Dr. William Vollmar, Stephen G. Diamantoni & Associates and Lancaster General Health, all of Lancaster.
According to the lawsuit, defendant Vollmar had a history of sexually assaulting and abusing his patients, including children, at various locations statewide over the past several decades.
In 2005, a patient reported to Lancaster General Health that Vollmar inappropriately touched her during an examination, but allegedly chose not to report the incident to law enforcement, the Pennsylvania Board of Medicine or anyone at Diamantoni & Associates – leading a series of other patients to also be abused.
“In the year 2017, plaintiff John Doe began treating with defendant Vollmar for various sport-related injuries. Plaintiff treated with Vollmar at Stephen G. Diamantoni & Associates’ Quarryville location, on several occasions between 2017 and March 2019” the suit says.
“On each occasion when plaintiff received services at Diamantoni & Associates, defendant Vollmar was assigned to perform services on plaintiff. Plaintiff received services and/or treatment from Vollmar at Diamantoni & Associates after normal business hours.”
The suit continues that Vollmar’s co-defendants knew for well over 10 years that he had been and was continuing to sexually abuse his patients, and alleges that Diamantoni & Associates and its attorneys threatened those reporting the sexual assaults and abuse with defamation lawsuits.
After suffering an ankle injury in December 2018, the plaintiff received treatment from Vollmar for the proceeding three months. In addition, Vollmar is said to have exchanged text messages with the plaintiff and groomed him by asking him to accompany Vollmar to a sports medicine training session in New Jersey and treating him to dinner afterwards.
During a March 24, 2019 appointment, Vollmar allegedly began “rubbing, grabbing, squeezing, masturbating and/or twisting plaintiff’s penis”, causing him to freeze, paralyzed with shock – then asked the plaintiff if he would rub his back and when he did so, insinuated that he wanted him to proceed with further sexual activity.
When Vollmar nervously confronted plaintiff over his job security after what had just allegedly occurred, the plaintiff told him not to worry about it, while Vollmar made reference to a “happy ending.”
As a result of the interaction, the plaintiff has suffered and continues to suffer great pain of mind and body, shock, emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress, embarrassment, loss of self-esteem, disgrace, humiliation and loss of enjoyment in life, and has incurred/will continue to incur expenses for medical and psychological treatment, therapy and counseling.
“On April 24, 2019, defendant Vollmar was charged with indecent assault, as a result of his assault on plaintiff. He was concurrently charged with other sexual assault crimes, including corruption of minors, for assaults on multiple other victims,” per the suit.
“On Nov. 12, 2020, Vollmar pled no contest to numerous charges for sexually assaulting/abusing multiple other patients, including minors, and was sentenced to a minimum of nine and a half to 20 years in prison.”
For multiple counts of vicarious liability, negligence, negligent performance of undertaking to render services, negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligent misrepresentation and negligent failure to rescue, the plaintiff is seeking, jointly and severally, damages, interest, costs of suit, punitive damages and such other remedies as this Honorable Court deems equitable, just and proper.
The plaintiff is represented by Gaetano D’Andrea, Brian D. Kent and Jillian Roth of Laffey Bucci & Kent, in Philadelphia.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas case CI-21-00781
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com