Iranian-born scientist who sued College of Alabama at Birmingham awarded $3.8 million in damages

An Iranian-born analysis scientist who filed a federal discrimination lawsuit alleging she had been harassed by a College of Alabama at Birmingham co-worker for 9 years due to her ethnicity has been awarded greater than $3.8 million in damages.

Fariba Moeinpour, 62, mentioned she was thrilled with the jury verdict, which was handed down Tuesday within the Northern District of Alabama, and able to restart her life.

“Day and night time, I used to be in search of a job, any job, however no one would rent me as a result of my identify was tarnished,” Moeinpour informed NBC Information. “Now, my good identify has been restored.”

UAB, in response to the jury verdict, was ordered to pay Moeinpour $3 million in damages.

Mary Jo Cagle, a former UAB knowledge analyst who was recognized within the lawsuit as the one who harassed Moeinpour, was ordered to pay her $500,000 in compensatory damages and one other $325,000 in punitive damages.

Moeinpour’s lawyer, Eric Artrip, mentioned his shopper “put up with years of being known as all types of horrible names.”

“This case is a reminder that folks do not need to endure racial discrimination in silence, and that the American justice system works for all of us,” Artrip mentioned.

UAB spokeswoman Alicia Rohan mentioned the college “doesn’t tolerate harassment, retaliation or discrimination of any sort” however didn’t specify what authorized steps it could take subsequent.

“We respectfully disagree with the decision on this case involving former staff, and we’re contemplating subsequent steps,” Rohan mentioned in an e-mail.

Cagle didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Moeinpour is a naturalized U.S. citizen who emigrated from Iran in 1989 and settled in Birmingham. She mentioned her ordeal started in February 2011 after she was transferred from one other UAB lab to 1 headed by Clinton Grubbs.

In her 2021 lawsuit, Moeinpour mentioned she had been moved to Grubbs’ lab after she discovered proof of knowledge falsification and manipulation and reported it to an company of the federal Division of Well being and People Providers.

Cagle, in response to the lawsuit, started harassing Moeinpour nearly from the second she began working for Grubbs on the UAB College of Medication.

Moeinpour mentioned Cagle taunted her repeatedly, telling her she had a “bizarre ass” identify and informed her to “return to Iran.”

“Our nation doesn’t want your sort,” Cagle mentioned, in response to the lawsuit.

Moeinpour mentioned within the lawsuit that the abuse escalated over time and that Cagle as soon as practically ran her and her daughter over with a automobile and later pulled a gun on her “within the UAB parking deck whereas telling her that that is what ‘we’ do to a ‘sand n—–.’”

Over a interval of 9 years, Moeinpour mentioned she repeatedly complained to UAB’s human sources division and to Grubbs, who was additionally Cagle’s supervisor. He’s not a defendant within the lawsuit.

However Grubbs was reluctant to intervene and informed Moeinpour that “Cagle was within the mafia” and that he was afraid of her, in response to the lawsuit.

Lastly, Moeinpour informed Grubbs on Feb. 13, 2020, that she had gone over his head and known as human sources.

“Dr. Grubbs grew more and more agitated, mentioned he would lose his job, that they might ask why he hadn’t reported her complaints, and that he would kill himself if that occurred,” the lawsuit mentioned.

Grubbs, the lawsuit alleged, known as campus police to have Moeinpour arrested “to close her up about Defendant Cagle’s actions.” And at one level, Grubbs “grabbed Ms. Moeinpour by the chin and knocked her down, chopping her face together with his nails and inflicting her to bleed.”

“When Ms. Moeinpour fell to the ground, he fell on high of her and held her down,” the lawsuit mentioned. “In an effort to get him off of her, Ms. Moeinpour slapped him.”

When campus police arrived, Moeinpour admitted that she had struck Grubbs “to attempt to make him cease attacking and groping her,” in response to the lawsuit.

“I wound up spending 30 hours in jail,” Moeinpour mentioned.

UAB subsequently fired her on Feb. 18, 2020 “for violating its coverage in opposition to combating and absenteeism, regardless of understanding that Ms. Moeinpour had mentioned she was attacked by Grubbs and with out interviewing her or requested her for proof to substantiate her claims,” the lawsuit states.

Moeinpour repeated her account within the grievance she filed with the federal Equal Employment Alternative Fee in August 2020 below her former married identify, Fariba Moeinpour Lawsen. She is divorced.

The UAB police division’s Feb. 13, 2020, home violence report described Moeinpour as an “uncontrolled” aggressor who slapped Grubbs throughout an argument.

Grubbs mentioned within the report that the quarrel was sparked when Moeinpour “went over his head and contacted his supervisor with out first contacting him.” Grubbs didn’t give a cause within the report for why he thought she did so.

Grubbs mentioned he didn’t wish to press costs and that they “had been in a relationship previously yr.”

However Moeinpour informed NBC Information in 2021 interview: “I by no means had a romantic relationship with Dr. Grubbs.”

Grubbs didn’t reply to an e-mail from NBC Information looking for remark in regards to the verdict.

Moeinpour mentioned her daughter, who’s a lawyer, supported her whereas she waged her authorized battle. “She put her life apart to assist me,” she mentioned.

“I intend to remain in Birmingham, that is my dwelling,” she mentioned. “I really like America. However what they did to me was un-American. We’re all human beings below God.”