LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A jury Friday added $100,000 in punitive damages to the multimillion-dollar award it granted the previous day to a former County-USC Medical Center doctor who sued another physician, alleging he sexually battered her in 2015.
Dr. Meena Zareh sued USC, Los Angeles County and Dr. Guillermo Andres Cortes in Los Angeles Superior Court in December 2016. Her suit alleged 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 stated.
On Thursday, the jury awarded the 38-year-old plaintiff $6.9 million in past and future lost earnings and medical expenses, plus $5 million for her past and future emotional distress. The panel also found that Cortes acted with malice or oppression, triggering Friday's second phase of trial on punitive damages.
Despite a trial that lasted more than 21 days, the jury reached its verdict on liability and compensatory damages within its first day of deliberations. The panel exonerated USC and the county of any wrongdoing.
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.