Trial Magazine

Physician Lauren Pinter-Brown was the director of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) lymphoma program and a clinical professor of medicine. After a male colleague began calling her multiple times a day while she was caring for patients and conducting research, she told him that she could no longer meet with him as frequently. Afterward, the colleague became oppositional toward her, reversing decisions and failing to follow directives. Pinter-Brown filed a complaint with UCLA’s Title IX office and was told that she had a reputation for being an angry woman and that she should stay away from her colleague.

Pinter-Brown continued to experience hostility from the colleague, who ignored and disrupted her presentations and commented that she was not a scientist. Pinter-Brown complained to two senior physicians and requested that her clinic be moved away from that of the male colleague. Nevertheless, she was required to share an office with the colleague.

Pinter-Brown was subsequently placed on a corrective action plan and suspended from her role as principal investigator on her clinical research trials. She was later removed from her position in the lymphoma program, and the male colleague was named as her replacement. Pinter-Brown attempted to work cooperatively, but she was constantly watched for minor mistakes and criticized in front of her peers.

Pinter-Brown ultimately resigned from UCLA.

She sued UCLA and the Regents of the University of California, alleging gender discrimination and harassment, retaliation, age discrimination and harassment, labor code violations, equal pay violations, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and defamation.

The jury awarded $14 million at retrial.

Citation: Pinter-Brown v. Univ. of Cal. at Los Angeles, No. BC624838 (Cal. Super. Ct. Los Angeles Cnty. May 28, 2024).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ member Carney R. Shegerian, Santa Monica, Calif.