A lawsuit filed by a longtime cardiologist at Kaiser Foundation Hospitals facility in Riverside, in which she alleges the managed care consortium was slow to deal with a technician who sexually harassed her, should have been brought in Riverside County, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.
Judge Joseph Lipner granted a motion for change-of-venue filed by Kaiser attorneys in the lawsuit in which the plaintiff is identified only as Jane Doe 200. The plaintiff alleges gender discrimination, harassment, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, battery, failure to prevent discrimination, harassment or retaliation and a violation of the state Labor Code.
The technician, a co-defendant in Doe 200’s case, also supported moving the case to Riverside County. In his ruling, Lipner said the decision boiled down to the best interests of expected trial witnesses, some of whom would have to travel long distances to a trial in Los Angeles compared to Riverside.
“On balance, the convenience of the witnesses weighs in favor of transferring venue to Riverside County,” Lipner wrote.
In their previous court papers, Kaiser attorneys denied Doe 200’s allegations and cited multiple defenses, including that the plaintiff “failed to take reasonable advantage of (Kaiser’s) procedures to prevent and correct any alleged harm” and that there was “good cause for the actions and conduct complained of, which was based on business necessity and was not for discriminatory or retaliatory reasons.”
The woman has worked as a cardiologist for Kaiser in Riverside since 2014. According to the suit filed last Nov. 26, a cardiology department technician — whom the lawsuit says supervises four or five other technicians — began sexually harassing her in March 2023 with unwanted hugs, graphic text messages, frequent visits to her office and putting his arm around her waist while she was resuscitating patients.
In June 2023, the technician sent Doe 200 a photo of himself via text message depicting him lying naked in bed while hugging his dog, the suit states.
“Plaintiff was shocked by the unwanted photo, but attempted to de-escalate the situation as they still had to work together,” according to the complaint.
Two months later, weary of the man’s conduct, Doe 200 told him in her office, “No, no more hugs. Stop touching me,” according to the suit.
When Doe 200 spoke with another female doctor about the supervisor’s alleged behavior, the other doctor replied, “I know. He’s always looking and staring at me. He also makes me uncomfortable,” according to the suit, which further states that Doe 200 found out from a nurse in March 2024 that the man was fired from a previous job for sexual harassment and that he had also been engaged in the same behavior with a Kaiser nurse.
The technician, after an internal investigation, was placed on a paid suspension last October, but the plaintiff has not been updated by human resources, which has contributed to her emotional distress, the suit states.
When asked by an investigator about his behavior, the technician said Doe 200 never said “no” to his hugs and also stated that he thought she liked dogs, the suit states.