Cox v. OASIS PHYSICAL THERAPY, PLLC

222 P.3d 119
Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided November 17, 2009·No. 27525-6-III·Published·Cited by 19 cases

Opinion

222 P.3d 119 (2009)

Kelly COX, Appellant,
v.
OASIS PHYSICAL THERAPY, PLLC, A Professional Limited Liability Company, and Lance and Mindi Irvine, and Rafat and Yvonne Shirinzadeh, Respondents.

No. 27525-6-III.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 3.

November 17, 2009.

*121 Thaddeus Phillip Martin, IV, Attorney at Law, Tacoma, WA, Kerri Wheeler Feeney, Feeney Law Office PLLC, Mario M. Ledesma, Ledesma Law Offices PLLC, Richland, WA, for Appellant.

Ketia Berry Wick, Timothy D. Shea, Lee Smart PS Inc, Rebecca Sue Ringer, David J. Corey, Floyd Pflueger & Ringer PS, Seattle, WA, for Respondents.

BROWN, J.

¶ 1 Kelly Cox appeals the summary dismissal as time-barred of all her claims against Oasis Physical Therapy (Oasis), Mindi Irvine, and Rafat Shirinzadeh, allegedly arising from her employment with Oasis. We affirm the summary dismissal of Ms. *122 Cox's claims for medical negligence, assault and battery, and wrongful discharge and unlawful retaliation under the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD), chapter 49.60 RCW, because they are time-barred. We reverse as not time-barred the summary dismissal of her claims for negligent hiring, retention, and supervision; negligent infliction of emotional distress; outrage and intentional infliction of emotional distress; and, sex, gender, and hostile environment discrimination under the WLAD. Accordingly, we affirm in part, and reverse in part.

FACTS

¶ 2 Ms. Irvine and Mr. Shirinzadeh, physical therapists, co-owned Oasis. On December 6, 2007, Ms. Cox sued Oasis, Ms. Irvine, and Mr. Shirinzadeh,[1] for: sex discrimination, gender discrimination, hostile environment, disparate treatment, and disparate impact under WLAD; negligence, negligent hiring, retention, and supervision; and intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress, outrage, and assault and battery. Ms. Cox alleged "[d]uring her employment, [she] was pervasively sexually harassed and assaulted by Mr. Shirinzadeh and then threatened and intimidated by [Oasis] when she spoke out about it." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 531. On December 14, 2007, Ms. Cox amended her complaint to allege: medical negligence against Mr. Shirinzadeh and Oasis; sex, gender, and hostile environment discrimination under the WLAD; negligence, negligent hiring, retention, and supervision; and intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress, outrage, and assault and battery.

¶ 3 On August 25, 2008, Oasis and Ms. Irvine moved for partial summary judgment, on the medical negligence claim against Oasis, alleging the claim is time-barred. On August 28, 2008, Mr. Shirinzadeh filed a motion joining Oasis and Ms. Irvine's motion for partial summary judgment, and moving for summary judgment on Ms. Cox's "entire claim and Complaint against him." CP at 431. Mr. Shirinzadeh alleged, "All of the causes of action alleged by [Ms.] Cox are barred by the applicable statutes of limitations." CP at 431. Later, Oasis and Ms. Irvine joined Mr. Shirinzadeh's summary judgment motion on the claims of negligent hiring, retention, and supervision, and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and her claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress, outrage, and assault and battery.

¶ 4 On September 18, 2008, the trial court permitted Ms. Cox to file a second amended complaint, alleging: medical negligence against Mr. Shirinzadeh and Oasis; sex, gender, and hostile environment discrimination under the WLAD; negligence, negligent hiring, retention, and supervision; and intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress, outrage, and assault and battery; wrongful discharge under the WLAD; and unlawful retaliation.

¶ 5 Also on September 18, 2008, Ms. Cox responded to the summary judgment motions. Ms. Cox asserted her WLAD claims of sex, gender, and hostile environment discrimination, wrongful discharge, and unlawful retaliation, were not subject to the summary judgment motions, "in that it was neither addressed or brief [sic] by any defendant." CP at 232. Nevertheless, Ms. Cox addressed the timeliness of her WLAD claims.

¶ 6 On September 22, 2008, Mr. Shirinzadeh filed supplemental briefing clarifying he was requesting summary dismissal as time-barred of all claims, including those made in Ms. Cox's second amended complaint. Later he filed briefing addressing the WLAD limitations issues. Oasis and Ms. Irvine again joined.

¶ 7 Ms. Cox declared she began working at Oasis in February 2004, eventually becoming Mr. Shirinzadeh's assistant. She stated that she became a patient at Oasis in April 2004, and first saw Mr. Shirinzadeh on May 6, 2004, for neck treatment. Ms. Cox described a treatment incident occurring on her third visit with Mr. Shirinzadeh that lasted close to an hour where he had her remove her bra before he pushed her gown up to her chin and began moving his hands "all over the place." CP at 26. Ms. Cox declared she complained about this incident to Ms. Irvine, *123 who told her she would talk to Mr. Shirinzadeh. Later, Ms. Irvine told Ms. Cox and others to "stop complaining" and threatened firing if the "gossip" continued. CP at 28. In addition, Ms. Cox stated, "I also complained to [Ms.] Irvine more times than I could count, from the time I started in February 2004 until May 2005 about Mr. Shirinzadeh's sexual harassment." CP at 31.

¶ 8 Ms. Cox stated she no longer saw Mr. Shirinzadeh after the treatment incident, but noticed then:

[H]e became very touchy and consistently started giving me very uncomfortable sexual hugs that lasted longer than necessary, he would contently place his hands on my shoulders and on my back. He would walk up behind me and rub my shoulders or my back.... [Mr. Shirinzadeh] would also say, "I am the only cock in the hen house" around patients and staff on a daily basis, until the point I was terminated. He would also make sexual comments about female patients and their looks on a daily basis, he would say things like, "she's pretty", "that lady is beautiful", "she is hot" and many other sexual comments. These comments were also directed to many of the female staff member [sic] on a daily basis."

CP at 27.

¶ 9 Ms. Cox declared she was required to reassure other female patients that exposing their breasts was "normal procedure" and: Mr. Shirinzadeh and [Ms.] Irvine drilled [that] into me over and over, even to the point of Mr. Shirinzadeh showing medical treatise that appeared to support Mr. Shirinzadeh's treatment method of touching nude women as medically necessary.

CP at 28. Ms. Cox related:

Mr. Shirinzadeh got ruder by the day. I would go home crying because of the way he was treating me, I also suffered headaches, insomnia, stomach aches, loss of appetite and anxiety as a result of how both Mr. Shirinzadeh and Ms. Irvine treated me at Oasis.

CP at 28.

¶ 10 Ms. Cox declared she wrote Mr. Shirinzadeh and Ms. Irvine in April 2005 addressing problems she had with Oasis and with Mr. Shirinzadeh, and:

Two weeks after I gave them my letter I still did not hear anything. Around this time period, I went to work ... and was confronted by a lady named Tammy, who told me she was my replacement. Neither [Ms.] Irvine or Mr. Shirinzadeh told me that I would be getting replaced or that I had to train her for two weeks.... After those two weeks ... my hours were cut.... I couldn't afford to li

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Cox v. OASIS PHYSICAL THERAPY, PLLC, 222 P.3d 119 (Wash. Ct. App. 2009).

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