Gibbons v. American Samoa Government

OPINION AND ORDER

I. Background

On February 16, 1992, Virginia Gibbons (“Gibbons”) was beaten and sexually assaulted at her home in the government housing complex in Tafuna by Maosi Fuala'au, a prisoner who had escaped from the government’s Correctional Facility in Tafuna. The prisoner had been incarcerated for a previous sexual assault in the same housing complex. Gibbons brought suit against the American Samoa Government (“ASG” or “the government”) to recover damages for injuries she sustained as a result of the attack.

On February 2, 1998, the Court bifurcated the trial into two phases. The…