Stephan Pardi v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals

389 F.3d 840, 2004 WL 2579370
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedNovember 15, 2004
Docket02-16447
StatusPublished
Cited by220 cases

This text of 389 F.3d 840 (Stephan Pardi v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stephan Pardi v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, 389 F.3d 840, 2004 WL 2579370 (9th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

MOSKOWITZ, District Judge.

Stephan Pardi appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of his former employer, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (“Kaiser”), on four claims: (1) violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”); (2) intentional infliction of emotional distress; (3) interference with prospective economic advantage; and (4) breach of contract. The district court granted summary judgment for Kaiser on *844 all claims based on a settlement agreement and release (the “Settlement Agreement”), the California litigation privilege, and failure of proof of the state claims. We affirm the judgment on the claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with prospective economic advantage, and violation of the ADA with regard to pre-Settlement Agreement acts. However, we vacate the judgment as to the claims of breach of contract and violation of the ADA and remand these claims for trial.

BACKGROUND

A. Pardi’s Employment and Termination

Stephan Pardi, a licensed respiratory care practitioner, began working at Kaiser Medical Center in Oakland, California, on April 27, 1997. Pardi informed his employer that he suffers from depression, a disability under the ADA.

Between 1997 and 1999, Pardi initiated a number of grievances through his union, Service Employees International Union Local 250 (“the union”), and filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), alleging, among other things, that the head of the respiratory care department at Kaiser refused to comply with the agreed upon accommodations for his disability. In August 1998, Pardi requested a transfer to another facility as an accommodation for his disability under the ADA. In response, Kaiser demanded that Pardi undergo a full psychiatric evaluation, a condition that Kaiser had never imposed on any other respiratory care practitioner requesting a routine transfer. Pardi was never transferred.

During the same 1997 to 1999 time period, physicians and patients made various complaints against Pardi alleging unprofessional conduct and inappropriate comments.

Pardi was placed on paid administrative leave of absence on April 12, 1999, and on unpaid investigatory suspension on June 17, 1999, while Kaiser conducted an internal investigation into allegations of improper patient care by Pardi.

On July 12, 1999, Kaiser terminated Pardi’s employment. Janet Schade, Kaiser’s Director of Nursing Operations, made the decision to terminate Pardi. She notified him by letter, setting forth six charges of misconduct as grounds for his termination. Two of the charges involved time discrepancies entered on patients’ charts. The other four described complaints from physicians and patients. 1

*845 Also in July 1999, a union arbitration panel heard multiple grievances brought by Pardi relating to discrimination and harassment. The arbitration concluded in Pardi’s favor, resulting in a five-figure settlement from Kaiser. The record does not indicate exactly when in July the arbitration occurred or the panel rendered its decision.

After his termination, Pardi initiated an additional grievance proceeding against Kaiser through his union challenging his termination.

B. Kaiser’s Report to the Respiratory Care Board

On July 23, 1999, Schade reported Par-di’s termination to the Respiratory Care Board (“RCB”), the regulatory body that oversees the practice of respiratory care in California. Schade stated that she believed that the report was mandated by California Business and Professions Code § 3758, which requires employers to report to the RCB any suspensions and terminations for cause of respiratory care practitioners, and punishes noncompliance with a fine of up to $10,000. 2 Schade claims she believed that the two charges of entering false times on patients’ charts fell within the provision for “falsification of medical records.” This was the only basis for her report to the RCB.

Kaiser admits that it did not have a policy of reporting all terminations of respiratory care practitioners to the RCB. As of January 21, 2002, Pardi’s termination was the unly one that it had reported to the RCB since January 1,1996.

C. The Settlement Agreement

On or about January 13, 2000, Kaiser, Pardi, and the union entered into a Settlement Agreement and General Release (“Settlement Agreement”). Under the terms of the Settlement Agreement, Kaiser agreed to accept Pardi’s resignation and pay Pardi $130,000. In exchange, Pardi agreed to withdraw pending complaints against Kaiser with the EEOC, and to release Kaiser from all claims for conduct up to the date of the agreement and any future claims arising from any event occurring oh or before the date of the Settlement Agreement. 3 Pardi signed the *846 Settlement Agreement on January 13, 2000. Kaiser’s representatives signed on January 17, 2000.

D. Post-Settlement Acts

On January 25, 2000, approximately six months after Kaiser had reported Pardi’s termination to the RCB and less than two weeks after Kaiser had settled with Pardi, Mark Bleeker, a Senior Investigator with the Department of Consumer Affairs (“DCA”), contacted Christopher Joyce of Kaiser’s Human Resources Department. Bleeker advised Joyce that he was initiating an investigation on behalf of the RCB regarding allegations that Pardi had falsified medical records and acted unprofessionally. Bleeker requested access to employment files and patient records and sent investigative subpoenas to Joyce and Deborah Booker (now Deborah Shibley), an inhouse attorney for Kaiser, in an effort to obtain information about complaints against Pardi.

On February 1, 2000, Bleeker met with Joyce at Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center. Bleeker reviewed Pardi’s employment file and requested copies of certain documents. As of February 1, 2000, Pardi’s employment file had not been updated to reflect his resignation rather than his termination for cause. It was not until February 9 and 11, 2000, that Joyce directed Kaiser’s document management center to remove termination paperwork from Pardi’s personnel file and replace it with documents indieat-ing that Pardi’s employment with Kaiser had ended through voluntary resignation.

On April 5, 2000, Shibley sent a letter to Bleeker enclosing documents she stated were responsive to the subpoena, including complaints which were not part of the investigation leading to the decision to report Pardi’s termination. There is evidence that Shibley did not turn over to Bleeker medical records that could have supported Pardi’s explanation of the charges that allegedly formed the basis of his termination, or the name of at least one witness favorable to Pardi whom Pardi had identified in a June 21, 1999 letter he had written to Joyce. Kaiser also did not turn over to Bleeker letters Pardi had written to his supervisors at Kaiser regarding Kaiser’s harassment and failure to accommodate his disability.

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389 F.3d 840, 2004 WL 2579370, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stephan-pardi-v-kaiser-foundation-hospitals-ca9-2004.