Lawsuit Filed by Villarreal Hutner PC

OAKLAND, Calif., March 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Harriet Tubman Day, Qiqiuia Young filed a new lawsuit in Alameda County against Stanford University and Stanford Health Care for defamation based on what she alleges is fraudulently concealed publication of false statements smearing Ms. Young’s integrity and reputation. Ms. Young’s new lawsuit also alleges that her current employer, Stanford Health Care, has subjected her to ongoing racial discrimination and whistleblower retaliation, including for her reporting ongoing patient safety issues.

In 2024, a jury awarded Ms. Young $20 million, in what is believed to be the largest defamation verdict in history against Stanford University and the largest racial harassment and discrimination verdict in history against Ms. Young’s employer, Stanford Health Care.

The court later reduced the judgment to $10 million and awarded an additional $10 million in attorneys’ fees.

Stanford University and Stanford Health Care did not appeal and paid the judgment in full.

After the verdict, Ms. Young alleges Stanford Health Care discriminated and retaliated against her for vindicating her rights as a whistleblower by trying to intimidate and coerce her into quitting her job.

Ms. Young resisted the coercion and returned to work at Stanford Health Care as a patient testing technician caring for patients. 

Ms. Young alleges that since Stanford Health Care couldn’t bully her into quitting, now they’re trying to wear her down and force her out.

“After the trial,” said Qiqiuia Young, “Stanford wrote a check like it was nothing. Then they immediately went back to doing the same things like cutting corners, not training people to make sure patients are being treated as they’re supposed to be, ignoring me, and treating me like I’ve done something wrong, but I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Ms. Young added, “People ask, if it’s so bad, why am I still here? My answer is that I am here to care for and look out for our patients. Patients trust us to do the right thing regarding their health care. The question should be, why hasn’t this institution changed its behavior?”

Key Elements of the New Lawsuit:

• Racism and Retaliation: Stanford Health Care has continued its pattern and practice of discriminating and retaliating against Ms. Young by materially and adversely affecting and altering the terms, conditions, and privileges of her employment to wear her down and force her to quit.
• Reports of Patient Safety Risk: As a medical whistleblower, Ms. Young has repeatedly reported to management that nurses are brought into the Pelvic Health Center without adequate training and that Stanford Healthcare patients are not adequately informed of the risks of invasive procedures necessary to give informed consent.

“I have reported to top-level management that the nurses I work with who do pelvic floor testing are not allowed to talk to the patients about the risks involved with the invasive procedures they perform in the Pelvic Health Center,” says Ms. Young. “To me, that’s a betrayal of our patients’ trust and a terrible position to put our nurses in. I don’t understand why it’s so hard for Stanford Health Care to do the right thing to protect our patients. We have to start putting patients before profits.”

Lara Villarreal Hutner, lead counsel for Ms. Young, added, “Stanford University and Stanford Health Care were held accountable to Ms. Young by a jury in 2024 for treating her with malice, oppression, or fraud for defaming Ms. Young. The jury also held Stanford Health Care accountable as her employer for subjecting Ms. Young to racial harassment and discrimination that started in 2014 when her co-workers threatened to, and then dressed like the Ku Klux Klan to intimidate Ms. Young and continued. The jury also held Stanford Health Care to account for retaliating against Ms. Young for reporting racism and patient endangerment issues.”

The new lawsuit includes:

• Screenshots of racist and offensive comments made by management in response to Ms. Young’s substantiated report of racial discrimination from the first case.
• A report substantiating that Ms. Young’s coworker secretly photographed a patient’s disfigured genitals and texted the photo to her other co-workers, as alleged in Ms. Young’s first lawsuit.
• Stanford Medicine’s internal survey results showing the prevalence of microaggressions, fear of retaliation for reporting incidents of racism experienced by African-American employees, and limited action and accountability following those reports.
• Documentation related to ongoing and persistent patient safety issues.
• The jury verdict form from the first case highlighting racial harassment, discrimination, retaliation, defamation, and malice findings.

“The evidence is overwhelming,” stated Lara Villarreal Hutner. “Ms. Young filed her first lawsuit to bring the truth to light – only to have Stanford Medicine call her a liar to try and protect its reputation by destroying hers. We have already shown the falsity of their statements about Ms. Young with screenshots of offensive comments and retaliation for Ms. Young’s whistleblowing. The jury verdict forms from the first case underscore that Ms. Young was telling the truth and that Stanford treated her with malice, oppression, or fraud,” she added. “Her new defamation claim is based on similar false statements targeting Ms. Young to destroy her reputation.”

Ms. Young added, “After the jury came back with its verdict, Stanford’s lawyer looked the jury right in their face and said, ‘my client and I hear you, we hear you.’ Then they turned around and issued a statement saying they disagreed with the jury’s verdict. But they didn’t appeal. They know what they did and what they’re doing to me is wrong. But they didn’t respect the jury, and they haven’t changed. They think they can treat people – me, their patients – however they want. They think they are above the law. They’re not.”

“Ms. Young is a courageous whistleblower committed to advocating for patient safety and racial equality at Stanford Health Care. Ms. Young’s grandparents were Civil Rights leaders in Oklahoma in the 1960s, so she knows change doesn’t happen by being complicit or silent. Ms. Young will do everything she can to ensure a safe environment for patients at Stanford Health Care,” added Villarreal Hutner.

Young v. The Board of Trustees of The Leland Stanford Junior University and Stanford Healthcare is filed in Alameda County Superior Court and is case No. 25CV114068.

Please email legal@fcpcommunications.com for a copy of the litigation.

About Us

Villarreal Hutner PC is a woman & minority-owned law firm dedicated to serving our community. We believe everyone deserves equal access to legal representation, and we work tirelessly to ensure that happens. https://www.vhattorneys.com/

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SOURCE VILLARREAL HUTNER PC