Spota may face nursing probe questions

A federal judge's ruling may result in Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota's being questioned about the propriety of a probe that led to charges -- since dismissed -- against a group of immigrant nurses.

On Thursday U.S. District Judge Joseph Bianco allowed a civil rights lawsuit to proceed against Spota, a top assistant, Leonard Lato, and the Woodmere nursing home firm SentosaCare. The suit says the defendants conspired to prosecute 10 nurses and their Westbury attorney, Felix Vinluan, in retaliation for a mass resignation from a Smithtown SentosaCare facility.

Oscar Michelen, a Mineola attorney for Vinluan, said he would soon set up a lengthy session to question Spota under oath. "We'll be able to show that these charges should never have been brought," he said.

In 2007, a year after they resigned en masse from Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Care Center to protest working conditions, the nurses were indicted. Vinluan was charged with conspiracy for advising them on the resignations. SentosaCare, whose affiliate recruited the nurses from the Philippines, said the resignations caused a staffing crisis.

A state appeals court -- in a rare move -- threw out the charges before the case got to trial, ruling they violated free speech and anti-slavery rights.

Howard Fensterman, an attorney for SentosaCare, said Bianco was required under the law to accept the nurses' claims as true for this ruling and said his clients would prevail later.

Emily Constant, chief assistant district attorney, said Bianco dismissed the lawsuit claims on actions Spota and Lato took after the indictment. She said she was confident claims tied to the probe that led to the charges would be dismissed later.