Michelle Paknad has filed a lawsuit against her former employers, Intuitive Surgical, Inc. and Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., along with her former supervisors, Jeroen van Heesewijk and Kevin Collins. The case was filed in the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Sixth Appellate District, under case ID No. H050711 on April 29th, 2024. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and unlawful retaliation.
Paknad alleges that she suffered from these offenses throughout her employment at Intuitive which began in 2010 and ended in December 2018. She made two formal complaints during her tenure which were investigated by outside counsel Andrea Kelly Smethurst. Smethurst's findings were shared with company management and litigation counsel Littler Mendelson.
The plaintiff requested the reports prepared by Smethurst and related investigative materials in discovery but Intuitive provided only limited information citing attorney-client privilege and attorney work product doctrine. Paknad moved to compel disclosure but the trial court denied this motion.
Paknad is seeking a peremptory or alternative writ directing the trial court to reverse its ruling. The Supreme Court granted Paknad's petition for review and transferred the matter back to the appellate court with instructions to issue an order to show cause. Justices Lie, Greenwood and Wilson all concurred and concluded that Intuitive’s assertion of the avoidable consequences defense and its discovery responses placed the Smethurst investigations at issue, thus waiving attorney-client privilege.