A former County-USC Medical Center doctor who sued the university alleging she was subjected to backlash after complaining of sexual assault by another physician in 2015 can seek punitive damages, a judge ruled Wednesday.
After hearing arguments, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard J. Burdge Jr. reversed his tentative ruling in which he initially granted USC’s motion to dismiss Dr. Meena Zareh’s claim for punitive damages. He said the issue will now be left up to a jury.
Zareh sued USC, Los Angeles County, Dr. Guillermo Andres Cortes and other defendants in December 2016. Her suit alleges she was inappropriately touched by Cortes, a fellow in the Cardiovascular Medicine Fellowship Program, in a windowless room in 2015. Zareh had graduated from USC’s medical school and was in a residency program at the hospital at the time, her suit states.
The Medical Board of California stripped Cortes of his medical license in May 2020, based on Zareh’s allegations and those of two other women who worked as doctors at County-USC Medical Center and also alleged he sexually assaulted them. Cortes, who left USC, denied abusing Zareh and said he had consensual relations with the other women.
Zareh maintains the years of retaliation she suffered after reporting the incident ultimately caused her to depart USC.
The judge said the jury will have to assess whether Dr. Laura Mosqueda, then the dean of the Keck School of Medicine, responded appropriately after learning of Zareh’s allegations and whether Mosqueda was a “managing agent” who had the power of implementing policy.
USC attorney Keith W. Carlson argued in his court papers that neither Mosqueda nor any of the medical school officials qualified as managing agents. He also maintained that there was no showing any of their actions toward Zareh were malicious.
“Zareh offers nothing– let alone evidence, that is sufficiently strong to command the unhesitating assent of every reasonable mind — demonstrating that a managing agent, officer, or director of USC interacted with her in a manner so vile that it would be looked down upon and despised by ordinary decent people,” Carlson stated in his court papers. “Without this, USC cannot be liable for punitive damages.”
Following her report of being sexually assaulted, Dr. David Shavelle, the fellowship program director for the Keck School of Medicine Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, retaliated against Zareh and treated her with hostility, the suit alleges. When Zareh asked for accommodations to protect her from Cortes, Shavelle threw her out of his office, according to Zareh’s court papers.
During an evaluation in February 2017, Shavelle refused to let Zareh speak when she tried to describe the ways in which the alleged assault was interfering with her education, Zareh’s court papers state. Shavelle, who had previously been the plaintiff’s mentor and had contact with her on virtually a daily basis, changed his behavior toward her after she made the report, interacting with her only when absolutely necessary, Zareh’s court papers state.
Shavelle also refused to train her in the same manner as other fellows, embarrassed her during rounds, unduly scrutinized her and curtailed his work with her, including refusing to publish a paper in which she was lead author, according to her lawsuit.
“Dr. Shavelle’s treatment of Dr. Zareh after her report changed her whole fellowship and created an environment in which she was fearful of him, fearful of Cortes, fearful of other faculty,” Zareh’s court papers state. “She didn’t feel safe working at USC.”
After a media report of Zareh’s alleged sexual assault and USC’s response, Mosqueda sent a message to all faculty staff, students, residents and fellows of Keck School of Medicine stating that she took issues of sexual harassment and assault seriously, Zareh noted in a worn declaration.
“Yet, Dr. Mosqueda took no actions to ensure the retaliation did not continue and made no effort to contact me after she learned of the assault and retaliation from the article,” Zareh said.