A former County-USC Medical Center doctor who alleged she was subject to retaliation after complaining of being sexually assaulted by a colleague in 2015 may seek punitive damages, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled on Wednesday.
The court reversed a tentative ruling which granted the university’s motion to dismiss a claim by Dr. Meena Zareh, a cardiologist, for punitive damages. The judge said he would leave the application of those damages, which could be sizable, up to a jury.
Zareh sued USC, L.A. County and a former colleague, Dr. Guillermo Andres Cortes, among other defendants, in 2016. She alleged Cortes, another doctor in the Cardiovascular Medicine Fellowship Program, groped her in 2015.
The state medical board stripped Cortes of his medical license last year on the basis of Zareh’s allegations and those of two other women who worked at County-USC Medical Center with him.
Cortes has denied the allegations made by Zareh and claimed his relations with the other accusers were consensual.
Zareh alleged after reporting the sexual assault, Dr. David Shavelle, a fellowship program director for Keck, created a hostile environment for her. When Zareh requested accommodations to be protected from Cortes, she said she was thrown out of Shavelle’s office.
She additionally alleged the fellowship director deprived her of certain training, embarrassed her during rounds and refused to publish a paper in which she was lead author. She said Shavelle, who was previously a mentor, changed his attitude toward her in the immediate wake of her report against Cortes.
Zareh insisted USC was liable for harm she suffered as a result of the assault and subsequent retaliation after former Keck dean Dr. Laura Mosqueda failed to intervene on her behalf.
After a 2018 report in The Los Angeles Times about the assault and USC’s response, Mosqueda sent a message to all Keck faculty, medical staff, students, residents and fellows, stating that she took allegations of sexual misconduct seriously.
“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 contended in her suit.
USC’s attorneys have said there is no evidence that medical school officials directed “malicious” actions toward Zareh following reports of her assault.
