Crandell v. New York College of Osteopathic Medicine,

Crandell v. New York College of Osteopathic
Medicine,
No. 99 CIV. 2347 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 10, 2000)

The plaintiff alleged that she was subjected to sexual
harassment throughout much of her training as an
osteopathic physician at NYCOM and during her internship
year at St. Barnabas Hospital. The complained-of behaviors
included alleged sexual advances and unwelcome comments
made by faculty members, an alleged incident of sexual
assault, and continued sexual advances made by another
radiology resident during one of her clinical rotations.
The plaintiff informed the defendant of the harassment by
the resident. The court denied the defendant’s motion to
dismiss the portion of plaintiff’s claims which related
to incidents which did not occur on the NYCOM campus,
stating that the plaintiff established a nexus between the
off-campus misconduct and a hostile work environment. The
court dismissed all of the plaintiff’s claims (with the
exception of the claims relating to the harassment by the
other resident) because the plaintiff had never reported
any of the other alleged incidents to the defendant. The
court held that, at a minimum, the defendant must have
possessed enough knowledge of the harassment that it
reasonably could have responded with remedial measures to
address the kind of harassment upon which the claim is
based.