LOS ANGELES — The University of California system would pay $73 million under a proposed settlement reached Monday in a class-action lawsuit filed by seven women who accused a former UCLA gynecologist of sexual abuse.
James Heaps, 67, who is currently criminally charged with sexually abusing five patients, is accused in the civil litigation of sexual assault and sexual misconduct from 1983 to 2019, during his tenure at the UCLA student health center and UCLA Medical Center.
Although there are seven named plaintiffs, the class-action lawsuit could eventually include more than 6,600 patients of Heaps. A U.S. District Court judge will have to approve the final settlement.
The agreement filed Monday also requires UCLA to undertake seven reform measures. UCLA has been accused of keeping Heaps' misconduct secret before his arrest in June 2019 for allegedly sexually touching two patients in 2017.
That criminal case expanded in August 2020 when prosecutors charged Heaps with sexual abusing five patients. He now faces 20 felony counts and is charged with sex crimes spanning a period from 2011 to 2018. The charges include sexual battery by fraud, sexual exploitation of a patient and sexual penetration of an unconscious person. He faces more than 67 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
Since the doctor's arrest in June 2019, more than 200 women have come forward to report Heaps subjected them to sexually inappropriate comments, touched them sexually during exams without wearing gloves and simulated intercourse with an ultrasound probe. Heaps' medical license was suspended last year after he pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges.
UCLA officials have acknowledged they received complaints about Heaps in 2017, and he was placed on leave the following year. But the school made no public statements about Heaps' conduct upon his retirement in 2018, when it declined to renew his contract, and alerted the college community only after reports of his arrest last year.
According to UCLA, Heaps treated about 5,000 patients for whom the institution has records, and about 1,600 others for whom it does not have details. Heaps did not admit any wrongdoing or contribute toward the $73 million in the agreement, but he did sign off on the settlement's terms.
Within minutes of the settlement's announcement, John Manly, a prominent sexual abuse attorney who represents 112 alleged victims of Heaps, said his clients would not be part of the settlement, which was crafted by another law firm.
"This is a cynical settlement to benefit class-action lawyers and the UC system," he said. "They struck this deal to avoid victims having their day in court." Given the number of potential victims, he said, the settlement could amount to only about $12,000 per person.
As part of the agreement, UCLA will implement a new process for investigating allegations of sexual assault, harassment and misconduct. It must also implement a formal chaperone policy for patients. It must also initiate a training program on boundaries and ensure that patients are informed about reporting misconduct.
The proposed settlement is the latest agreement to give payouts to thousands of patients of male doctors who are accused of sexual assault and sexual misconduct. A federal judge approved a $215 million settlement for 18,000 women who were patients of a former gynecologist at the University of Southern California. Dr. George Tyndall.
Heaps' attorney and a UCLA spokesperson did not immediately return requests for comment.
