Kamala Harris wins discrimination case

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A lawsuit filed by a California hospital chain against US Sen. Kamala Harris during her tenure as the state’s attorney general has been dismissed by a federal judge.

US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel of San Diego on August 16 dismissed Prime Healthcare Services’ claim that the Indian American attorney general catered to union demands and imposed unreasonable conditions on a
proposed $843-million purchase of a group of nonprofit health facilities.

The judge said that the hospital was unable to show it was the victim of discrimination or that Harris knowingly violated any laws.

Curiel added that the hospital company was trying to make a constitutional issue out of “discretionary state decision-making.”

In October 2014, Prime Healthcare reached an agreement with Daughters of Charity Health System to purchase five California hospitals and a nursing home.

As attorney general, Harris held veto power over the sale and said she would only approve it, should Prime Healthcare agree to keep the facilities open for a decade, which the company refused.

Prime Healthcare accused Harris of conspiring with the Service Employees International Union and its United Healthcare Workers West affiliate to block the sale.