$15M Jury Award to Doctor Who Claimed Anti-Male Bias in University Finding He Had Committed Sexual Assault

From the Philadelphia Inquirer (Wendy Ruderman) Thursday:

A federal jury found Thursday that Thomas Jefferson University conducted a gender-biased investigation into allegations that former Rothman Orthopaedic Institute surgeon John Abraham raped a former medical resident.

After a four-day civil trial in U.S. District Court, jurors determined that Jefferson's leadership violated Abraham's civil rights by discriminating against him as a male and intentionally interfered with his ability to earn money as a Rothman surgeon and partner….

The case hinged on whether jurors believed that Jefferson's leadership ignored Abraham's claims that a second-year resident in Jefferson's orthopedic program aggressively pursued sex with him at a June 2018 pool party that he hosted at his Main Line home.

Under Title IX, Jefferson was obligated to investigate Abraham's allegations, which he said he relayed to multiple Jefferson officials. He claimed the resident, Jessica Phillips, got him so drunk that he was unable to consent to sex and tried to resist, his lawyers argued….

"We're not saying there was any sort of physical pinning-him-down type stuff, but when he says, 'Wait a minute, this is a bad idea. No, knock it off,' that's a withdrawal of consent. That's enough under the misconduct policy," Abraham's lawyer, Lane Jubb Jr., told jurors during his closing statement. "How is it that gender didn't play a role when Dr. Phillips is permitted to continue her residency, continue her education with leniency? Can you imagine if that was a man at that party?"

Phillips said she woke up in Abraham's bed the morning after the party naked, disoriented, and covered in bruises. She said Abraham sexually assaulted her and filed a criminal complaint against him in early July 2018. Montgomery County prosecutors closed their investigation with no charges about four months later….

Abraham, a former associate professor at Jefferson, didn't dispute during the trial that he "made a mistake" when he had sex with Phillips. She was a subordinate required to complete a rotation under him in the hospital's orthopedic oncology department to finish her training.

His legal case focused on the actions subsequently taken by Jefferson ….

The whole article is quite interesting; it was written before the damages verdict, though, which came in today at $15 million. Plaintiff is represented by Lane Jubb and Andrew Marth (The Beasley Firm, LLC).

Comments

[Don Nico]

This is not surprising. The man typically has the presumption of guilt against him in such cases

[Zarniwoop]

Yeah, so if it was your daughter:
He's the host throwing the party
He's the supervisor of a second year resident
She wakes up in his bed, covered with bruises
He admits: "Abraham, a former associate professor at Jefferson, didn't dispute during the trial that he "made a mistake" when he had sex with Phillips."

And his defense is ... she got him drunk and "aggressively pursued sex", so the university did something wrong and he should get $15M? Puh-fuckin'-lease.

[ReaderY]

The article is behind a paywall.

From the excerpt, given that it seems to be a he said/she said issue, I would not be inclined to disturb the university proceedings under these circumstances, especially if her claim she had bruises was corroborated. Even without corroboration, I would be inclined to think that as a faculty member and supervisor, he is responsible for his alcohol use. And a university is entitled to punish a faculty member for sexual relationships with students he is charged with supervising even if consensual.

[ReaderY]

Moreover, the surrounding circumstances significantly undercut the claim the university decision to credit her story rather than his, even if wrong, was based on bias rather than evidence.

[Commenter_XY]

How does this work, post verdict...does an insurance company pay the penalty or does TJU? If they have insurance, what happens after they make a claim like this?

[Rossami]

It depends on what kind of insurance TJU has. But, yes, if the university's risk managers were even halfway competent, they will have insurance that covers at least part of this. They probably also retained some of the risk as 'self-insured'. (A common structure is to have one insurance policy that covers routine litigation up to a relatively low point - say $5M - and another policy that covers 'excess' risk - that is, it doesn't even start until the cost is over say $10 M. In that hypothetical, insurer A would pay the first $5M, the insured would pay the second $5M and insurer B would pay the third $5M.)

Regardless, the incident goes on the university's Loss Run Report and factors into the assessments of risk (and therefore, premiums) when the insurance policies renew (which happens annually). Companies with crappy policies that get them sued do, over time, pay for their mistakes.

[Commenter_XY]

So insurance cost for TJU is about to go up....way up. Sucks for them. Hope it doesn't harm the medical school long-term.

[santamonica811]

"...didn't dispute during the trial that he "made a mistake" when he had sex with Phillips. She was a subordinate required to complete a rotation under him in the hospital's orthopedic oncology department to finish her training...."

'...[R]equired to omplete a rotation under him..."

That's, um, unfortunate wording. 🙂

[Schnazola]

Damn, you beat me to it. I did a spit take right there.

[Rubbish!]

Sounds like a movie where the two doctor fuck buddies set this all up for him to get paid and then for both to sail away together with all that lucre.