Filam doctor fined for beating ex-stripper

July 22, 2008  --  Got something to say?
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dr-benjamin-co-and-jane-haigh-record.jpgHACKENSACK, New Jersey - A jury on June 28 ordered a Filipino American cardiologist to pay a nominal $20,000 fee to a former stripper who sued him for beating her at the end of a relationship that started in a strip club.
During the two-week trial at the Superior Court here, the former stripper, Jane Haigh, claimed that Dr. Benjamin Co caused permanent injury to her back when he assaulted her at his apartment in September 2006 in a fit of jealousy.
The doctor, a 51-year-old divorced father of 2 children and a graduate of UP, countered by alleging that during their relationship that started in 2002, he spent $700,000 in gifts for Haigh. He said this included paying for her education at New York University, buying a home for her mother in Ohio, a down payment for a condo in Edgewater, two luxury cars and $10,000 a month in expenditures on his credit card.
Co said Haigh defrauded him out of those expenses while having an affair
with other men, and filed a counter-claim seeking a return of his $700,000.
The six men and two women on the jury found that Co assaulted Haigh and caused harm, but they declined to award her compensatory damages.
The jury instead awarded a token fee, which means the panel held that
Haigh was harmed but the harm did not rise to the level claimed in the
lawsuit. The jury also declined to award any damages for Co on his counter-claim.
“We are obviously not all that happy,” Haigh’s attorney, Roger Radol,
said later. Co’s attorney, Neal Frank, said his client was “pleased with the
bottomline result.”
Radol said that Haigh, 31, was working at a Rockland County strip club in 2002 to support herself and pay for college when she met the doctor. He said Co insisted on supporting Haigh and urged her to leave the strip club. Haigh eventually got her masters degree and is now working as a diabetes care specialist in Princeton.
The lawyer said the relationship turned sexual by September 2006 when Co found
email exchanges between Haigh and other men, leading him to accuse her of cheating on him and beating her.
Co testified during the trial that he hit Haigh a couple of times but
not as severely as Haigh claimed. He was later charged with domestic
violence for the beating and was placed on a pretrial intervention
program - a form of probation available for some first-time offenders.
Co’s lawyer claimed the emails were not just mere exchanges
between friends but evidenced that Haigh was “two-timing and
three-timing” Co.
Co graduated with a medical degree from the University of the
Philippines in 1981 and had his residency at the New York Hospital
Medical Center in Queens and the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. He
has a clinic in Ridgewood, NJ
Co was a jealous partner, one who sought Haigh’s attention to escape the
pain from his failed marriage, said Haigh’s attorney during the trial. He
dangled expensive gifts and credit cards in front of Haigh, using his wealth to control her, Radol said.
Co’s attorney described his client as a man who was more than a little generous with Haigh. Based on Haigh’s promises that she loved him and wanted to have a family with him, he lavished her over the years with expensive gifts: A house in Ohio for her family, $100,000 for down payment for a condo in Edgewater, an $80,000 Mercedes Benz, a convertible Mustang, breast implant surgery, and $10,000-a-month in expenditures on his credit cards, Frank said.
“Then he finds out that she was saying the same thing to two other men,”
Frank said. “She was two-timing and three-timing him. She defrauded him.”

Haigh, who lost both parents by age 15 and did not want to live in a
group home, was working at Stiletto’s strip club when she met Co in
2002, Radol said to jurors during his opening statement.

Co, 51, visited the club as part of an annual outing with other doctors,
but once he met Haigh, he began visiting the club more frequently.

“Dr. Co told her, ‘What are you doing here? You should be doing
better,’” Radol said as he sought Haig’s attention., Radol said. Haigh listened to him and spent time with him. In return, Co gave her gifts, including a check for her college tuition, Radol said. Co later divorced, and the two eventually began a romantic relationship, Radol said.
But Haigh was unhappy because Co used to drink a lot and became
controlling and possessive, Radol said.
As Haigh, 31, graduated from New York University with a master’s degree
and continued to advance in her career, Co felt he was losing control
over her, Radol said.
In September 2006, Co was fixing Haigh’s computer when he found emails
she had sent to her friends, Radol said.
“He thought that Jane had been ‘cheating’ on him,” Radol said.
Co asked Haigh to come to his apartment, where he punched and kicked her
repeatedly, leaving her with spinal injuries, Radol said. He also
threatened to kill her, the lawyer said.
Co later pleaded guilty to a charge of making terroristic threats and
was accepted into a pretrial intervention program. He described Haigh as a woman who “learned the ways of the world at a young age” and “knows how to use her appearance to her advantage.”
Her lawsuit against Co was a way of “checking if the well is dry,” he said.
“She is looking for another payday,” he said.

Her lawsuit against Co was a way of “checking if the well is dry,” he said.
“She is looking for another payday,” he said.


Posted by News Team | Filed Under US News 

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