Kopp v. Samaritan Health System, Inc.

• Decision Date: 21 January 1994
• Docket Number: No. 93-1519,93-1519
• Citation: 13 F.3d 264
• Parties: 63 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 880, 63 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 42,745 Lee KOPP, Appellant, v. SAMARITAN HEALTH SYSTEM, INC., and Saadi Albaghdadi, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 264

13 F.3d 264

63 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 880,

63 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 42,745

Lee KOPP, Appellant, v. SAMARITAN HEALTH SYSTEM, INC., and Saadi Albaghdadi, Appellees.

No. 93-1519.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Nov. 10, 1993.

Decided Dec. 23, 1993.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 21, 1994.

Dorothy A. O'Brien, Davenport, IA, argued, for appellant.

Margaret Chaplinsky, Des Moines, IA, argued, for appellee Samaritan Health System.

Before RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Chief Judge, BEAM, Circuit Judge, and BOGUE, ^* Senior District Judge.

RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Chief Judge.

The plaintiff, Ms. Lee Kopp, appeals the District Court's order granting summary judgment to the defendants, Dr. Saadi Albaghdadi and Samaritan Health System. Kopp contends that Albaghdadi's behavior towards her, coupled with the hospital's failure sufficiently to curtail his conduct, amounted to hostile-environment sexual harassment under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-2(a)(1). The District Court held that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain a finding that Albaghdadi's alleged abuse of Kopp was gender-based. We disagree, and we now reverse.

I.

We state the facts in the light most favorable to the party who lost below, as is appropriate on review of a summary judgment. Lee Kopp works for Samaritan Health System. She has worked for Samaritan (and its predecessors) for 15 years in the respiratory-cardiology department, and now is the lead cardiology technician. This position normally includes supervisory duties at two separate Samaritan sites, referred to as north and south campus. Throughout her employment, Kopp has consistently received "excellent" evaluations, and her supervisors consider her to be a dedicated employee.

Samaritan Health System is the corporate successor to Gateway Health Systems, which owned Jane Lamb Hospital. In 1989, Jane Lamb and Mercy Hospital merged into the Samaritan Health System.

Dr. Saadi Albaghdadi is a cardiologist with hospital privileges at Samaritan. Prior to the merger, he held privileges at both hospitals. Albaghdadi served on the executive committee of the medical staff throughout the early 1980s and has chaired several other Samaritan medical committees. He is present at Samaritan on a daily basis. In addition to his patient responsibilities, he directs hospital staff, orders them to perform tests, disciplines them when procedures fail to meet his expectations, and works in close physical contact with them. Although Albaghdadi does not have the power to hire or fire Samaritan employees, Samaritan has, at times, rearranged the location of staff members to accommodate Albaghdadi's wishes. The hospital has also changed certain staff members' schedules at his request, and has added staff in response to Albaghdadi's demands. On occasion, Albaghdadi has obtained money from the hospital for additional training for Kopp and other cardiology staff members. Moreover, the hospital has changed its supply orders to accommodate the doctor's requests. Albaghdadi generates considerable revenue for the hospital (approximately four million dollars in 1990) and is a partner in a clinic which leases an expensive piece of equipment to the hospital. From this piece of equipment alone, Albaghdadi's partnership earns $10,000 in monthly rent.

Kopp used to work with Albaghdadi on a regular basis, and has had several encounters with him. On two occasions Albaghdadi shouted at Kopp. Once, he yelled and threw his stethoscope at her, because another doctor had transferred a patient before Albaghdadi could collect a fee. This behavior reduced Kopp to tears. Then, on February 1, 1991, Albaghdadi reviewed a patient's chart and noticed that an echocardiogram report was missing. He telephoned Kopp and angrily demanded to know why the report was missing. She replied that she did not know, but that she would try to find out. Before hanging up, Albaghdadi referred to Kathy McAllister, who runs Samaritan's medical records department, as "that stupid bitch."

Fifteen minutes or so later, Kopp came across McAllister and Albaghdadi in the hallway. Albaghdadi attempted to secure a commitment from Kopp on a turnaround time for all echocardiogram reports to be typed and attached to patient charts. Although Kopp attempted to address Albaghdadi's concerns, she stated that she could not make a commitment about an exact turnaround time, because people over whom she had no control were involved in the process.

At this point, Albaghdadi became enraged and grabbed Lee Kopp with both hands by the lapels of her scrub jacket. He also grabbed her bra straps and her skin. He pulled her close and shouted through gritted teeth, "I want to know who to come after when this happens again." He held onto her and shook her for approximately 30 seconds, then he released her and pushed her back. He also complained about the merger that created Samaritan, referred to Ron Reed, an officer of Samaritan, as a "goddamn bastard," and complained about the condition of the wallpaper.

That evening, Kopp contacted her supervisor, Bill Vogel, to tell him about the incident. On February 4, she met with Samaritan administration members to discuss what had happened and, on February 6, she filed a formal complaint. Hospital officials met with Albaghdadi, and he emphatically denied ever touching Kopp.

On February 10, 1991, Dr. George York, president of Samaritan's medical staff, telephoned Kopp to schedule a meeting between Kopp and Albaghdadi. The purpose of the meeting was for Albaghdadi to apologize for his behavior. York informed Kopp that Tom Hesselman, Samaritan's CEO, had told him to arrange the meeting. When York called Kopp the next morning to set a time for the meeting, Kopp told him that she would prefer to handle the situation through administrative channels. She also indicated that she did not feel comfortable meeting with Albaghdadi. York slammed down the phone and headed for Kopp's office. When he found her he thumped her several times on the chest, saying, "Listen little lady, there are two kinds of people in this world, peacemakers and troublemakers. I know what kind you are." Kopp ran from her office into Vogel's. York followed her and continued to shout at her. Vogel stood between Kopp and York, and, eventually, York left Vogel's office.

Albaghdadi wrote Kopp a letter in which he apologized for upsetting her, but did not admit that he had touched her. Although the hospital could have temporarily revoked Albaghdadi's privileges and initiated proceedings to do so on a permanent basis, it did not. Instead, Vogel and Samaritan's vice-president, Wayne Sensor, told Kopp that they would require Albaghdadi to take a two-week leave of absence. Hesselman wrote Albaghdadi and told him that he either had to get some counseling or take some time off. Albaghdadi responded angrily, asserting that his apology should have been sufficient. He then attended a cardiology conference for which he had registered several weeks before the February 1, 1991, incident. No one from the hospital followed up to see whether Albaghdadi actually took the required time off or how long he was away. The hospital did not investigate the York incident, nor did Kopp receive an apology from him.

In 1991, before her encounters with Albaghdadi, Kopp was head of the cardiac technicians on both the north and south campuses. Samaritan performs most of its cardiac care on the north campus. After Albaghdadi's assault on Kopp, she told Vogel that she would prefer not to work with Albaghdadi on a daily basis. The hospital's response to her concerns was to locate Kopp primarily at south campus where little cardiac care occurs. As a result of this measure, Kopp no longer supervises any activity that occurs on the north campus. Kopp has had no further workplace encounters with Albaghdadi. Although Kopp continues to receive satisfactory performance evaluations and normal pay raises, she feels as if she has been demoted. She no longer supervises work on the north campus and is not involved in cardiac employee evaluations. Further, she asserts that her skills are deteriorating from lack of use.

In addition to the changes in her job, Kopp developed several emotional and physical problems following the Albaghdadi incident. She has suffered from insomnia, nightmares, headaches, loss of appetite, aggravation of a back problem, hypervigilance, and exaggerated startle response. These symptoms reoccur whenever she has contact with Albaghdadi. For example, she experiences some of these symptoms before and after she sees Albaghdadi at depositions.

Dr. Deborah Van Speybroeck, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, diagnosed Kopp as experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of the incidents at the hospital. Van Speybroeck said that Kopp had been a victim of child abuse, and that the abuse made her more susceptible to long-term injury from violence. Kopp had no prior history of mental-health treatment, and denies having had any post-traumatic-stress symptoms prior to the Albaghdadi and York incidents. According to Van Speybroeck, Kopp's symptoms continue primarily because of the unpredictable chance that Kopp will have to interact, in potentially close quarters and/or alone, with Drs. Albaghdadi and York.

The record also contains considerable testimony from Samaritan employees recounting numerous instances of Albaghdadi shouting at, swearing at, throwing objects at, using vulgar names to refer to, and shoving female hospital employees. For example, in 1985, Albaghdadi pushed charged defibrillator paddles at Kelly Yaddoff Sterk, placing her and others in the room in danger. Sterk had not applied the paddles to the patient immediately upon Albaghdadi's request that she do so, because another doctor's body was in contact with the patient's bed, and Sterk did not want to harm him. At another point in time, Albaghdadi called Sterk a "stupid son of a bitch." In the mid 1980s, Albaghdadi actually...