Mayo cafeteria employee who was stabbed at work files lawsuit

Emily Cutts, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·2 min read

Sep. 1—The Rochester woman who was seriously injured in 2019 after her estranged husband stabbed her at work has filed a lawsuit alleging the food service company that employed her "negligently, carelessly and unlawfully failed to" provide her with a safe workplace.

The civil lawsuit filed in Olmsted County District Court last month names Morrison Healthcare and Augustino Soro Nasona as the defendants, and seeks an excess of $50,000 in damages from each. The woman, Roda Lako, is being represented by attorney Peter Sandberg.

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Rochester police were called shortly after 7 a.m. on May 29, 2019, for a report of a man with a knife who had stabbed a cafeteria worker in the employee cafeteria of Mayo Clinic Hospital-Saint Marys Campus.

Nasona was detained by Mayo security until he was arrested by police. He pleaded guilty on Aug. 26, 2021, in Olmsted County District Court to felony first-degree assault.

At the time of the incident, Nasona was an employee of the hospital and had key card access to the cafeteria where Lako worked, according to the civil lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that on several occasions before the assault, Nasona used his key card to access the kitchen where Lako worked, "entering as an intruder with criminal intent, making violent threats against Plaintiff Roda Lako, acting out and publicizing his wrath towards her," the lawsuit states.

Lako complained to her manager about Nasona's access to the kitchen and his actions, and said she feared for her safety enough to quit her job unless transferred to a secured location.

The lawsuit alleges that Morrison Healthcare, through its agents and employees, told Lako to continue working in the kitchen and "undertook to handle the trouble" with Nasona and make the kitchen a safe place to work.

Morrison Healthcare responded to the suit denying allegations that it knew about previous incidents of harassment, complaints of the harassment, and assurances that it would "handle the trouble" with Nasona. The company's response also states that if Lako was injured as alleged, her injuries were caused by the negligent acts or omissions of others including Nasona, and not Morrison.

"Plaintiff's damages, if any, were caused by unforeseeable, intervening, or superseding events for which the (sic) Morrison is not liable," the response reads.

A case management conference is scheduled for Oct. 6.