Lawyers Ask That Asch Finish Deposition in U.S.

Attorneys for patients suing UC Irvine fertility specialist Ricardo H. Asch served notice Wednesday that they are seeking to have his unfinished deposition continued in an Orange law office later this month.

But Asch’s civil attorney, Lloyd Charton, said his client won’t show up for the Feb. 16 proceeding unless the doctor’s criminal lawyer wins assurances from federal officials that Asch won’t be arrested.

In addition, Charton said, Asch won’t agree to be deposed anywhere--inside or outside the United States--if the university won’t “pony up defense money,” Charton said. The civil attorney said Asch, who is now living in Mexico, is out of money for his own defense and will be left “lawyerless” without university coverage.

“As much as I like Dr. Asch . . . I’m not taking this case pro bono,” Charton said. “We have found no lawyers willing to work for Dr. Asch for free.”

The university showed no signs of budging in its refusal to pay Asch’s bills.

“With regard to Dr. Asch’s legal fees, the university’s position remains consistent and remains unchanged,” said UCI spokeswoman Fran Tardiff. “We have decided not to pay the legal fees in any case to this point.”

Asch and the University of California are named in at least 33 lawsuits alleging he stole the eggs and embryos of his patients and implanted them in others or offered them up for research. He and his two former partners at UCI’s now-closed Center for Reproductive Health also are under criminal investigation for alleged tax evasion, fertility drug smuggling and mail fraud. No criminal charges have been announced.

In the first four days of his deposition, held last month in a Tijuana hotel, Asch admitted to a degree of negligence in his supervision of clinics where he worked, but essentially blamed university employees for any “errors” that occurred. Asch insisted on holding the deposition in Tijuana because he feared arrest in the United States.

Attorneys for patients and the university characterized the deposition as “a circus” and said they would not agree to another session on foreign soil lest the experience be repeated. The Tijuana session featured numerous bodyguards for Asch, a bomb threat, theft of the deposition stenographer’s notes, room searches and rancorous exchanges between Charton and several of the approximately 20 attorneys in attendance.

“Absolutely not. . . . We are not doing that again,” said Melanie Blum, the lead attorney for the patients, who is proposing to continue the deposition at her Orange office.

The deposition was left unfinished and could continue up to 30 days, Charton estimated, based on what he has heard from various attorneys.

Blum and other lawyers said that it is not up to Charton to decide the location and the conditions of the session. She said that if Superior Court Judge Leonard Goldstein, who is presiding over the cases, orders Asch to comply with the plaintiffs’ deposition notice and the doctor does not show up, the patients’ attorneys can seek sanctions.

Ultimately, she said, Asch could be declared in default, essentially forfeiting the cases.