Carney R. Shegerian

Shegerian, the founder of Shegerian & Associates, focuses on plaintiff-side employment law with an emphasis on sexual harassment, workplace discrimination and wrongful termination cases. The Covid-19 crisis has been disruptive, he said, but not because he had to shutter his office.

"I typically work from home, have for years. So that doesn't bother me. I do miss seeing people at work. The big problem was the courts closing."

Shegerian is in discovery in his latest case against UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center for what he calls its unfairly negative treatment of a former nursing director. His client, Shohreh Samimi, who is of Persian descent, complained that a female African-American physician accused Samimi of gender and racial bias after Samimi raised concerns about the doctor's care of infants. The hospital responded by investigating Samimi and found that she had discriminated against the doctor, Shegerian said. Samimi v. The Regents of the University of California, BC696641 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed March 8, 2018).

"My client complained about the doctor's handling of babies," Shegerian explained. "The hospital treated her horribly." He said he has added defendants after learning more about the situation. "This was egregious conduct, and I believe this case is worth $18 million to $20 million, maybe more, even without punitives. She got pushed out and has been through living hell." A scheduled trial date has been vacated due to the pandemic.

It's hardly Shegerian's first bout of litigation against UCLA. He said he's looking forward the retrial of another harassment case after a state appellate panel in April 2020 reversed a $13 million jury award he won against the same hospital in 2018 in favor of a female director of the lymphoma department. Shegerian's client claimed a male colleague harassed her and, when she reported it, was met by pushback as UCLA targeted her with audits, suspended her research privileges and revoked her title. The doctor resigned and sued. Pinter-Brown v. The Regents of the University of California, B290086 (2d DCA, opinion filed April 23, 2020).

The panel objected to remarks made by the trial judge, who quoted civil rights figures and was found to have swayed jurors toward the plaintiff. The judge, Michael P. Linfield, also was wrong to allow evidence of discrimination throughout the entire UC system that was not directly connected to the plaintiff, the panel concluded.

"Some cases are hard to retry. You get bored, or there was some problem with your case," Shegerian said, vowing to seek an even greater damages award. "But I'll retry this one with enthusiasm for sure. She's a doctor and a world-class plaintiff."

-- John Roemer