Wins

A surgeon formerly employed at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center sued the County of Los Angeles, claiming that County employees retaliated against him and fired him after he reported what he believed to be an unnecessary surgery.  The court concluded before trial that his termination from the hospital was not retaliatory, as a matter of law.  The case then proceeded to a seven-week trial, where the jury returned a split verdict:  It agreed with the surgeon on his California False Claims Act cause of action but rejected his Labor Code claim.  The jury awarded the surgeon over $2 million in damages, and the trial court later tacked on over $3 million in attorney fees and costs.  The surgeon appealed, and the County cross-appealed.

In a partially published opinion, the Court of Appeal agreed with GMSR that the County was entitled to judgment notwithstanding the jury verdict on the False Claims Act claim.  It concluded as a matter of law that the False Claims Act’s anti-retaliation provision did not apply because the County is a public entity.  Because that was the only claim the surgeon won, the Court of Appeal reversed the multimillion-dollar damages award in his favor.  It also reversed the accompanying attorney fee and costs awards while fully affirming the trial court’s pretrial conclusion that the surgeon’s employment termination was not retaliatory.  The Court of Appeal returned just one claim to the trial court that had been dismissed at the demurrer stage—and in doing so, it observed that many issues, including the surgeon’s claim that his termination was wrongful, have already been resolved.

See the Court of Appeal Opinion.  (Ryan v. County of Los Angeles (2025) __ Cal.App.5th __ [Second District, Division Three].)