Asch Sues UCI to Pay Legal Bills, Restore Salary

Faced with legal bills he fears could run into millions of dollars, Dr. Ricardo H. Asch, the central figure in UC Irvine’s fertility scandal, filed a lawsuit Friday against the University of California to pay for his defense and to restore his professor’s salary.

A university medical liability program obligates UC officials to shoulder legal costs for the former director of UCI’s now-closed fertility clinic, according to documents filed in Orange County Superior Court. Furthermore, officials violated UC policy when they halted Asch’s salary without first holding a hearing, the lawsuit says.

Asch, 48, is accused, along with his two former partners, of stealing the eggs and embryos of scores of women and giving them to other patients, as well as engaging in research and financial fraud. Since then, officials have acknowledged that more than 70 women might have been victimized by egg and embryo misappropriation.

Asch, who now lives with his family in Mexico, has already personally paid $500,000 in legal costs, according to his attorney Lloyd Charton. The UC Regents stopped paying Asch’s annual salary of $95,800 after a vote in January.

“The university has become the self-appointed judge, jury and executioner for Dr. Asch,” Charton said. “You can’t deny a full-tenured professor his rights.”

But UC officials vow they will not pay for Asch’s defense because he acted outside the scope of his employment.

“The university’s position has not changed with regard to paying for the physicians’ defense,” university general counsel James E. Holst said.

Holst also said the university would not back down in its decision to stop Asch’s pay. The action was taken because Asch is living outside the country and is not cooperating in the investigations into his conduct.

“The regents’ action was fully warranted under the circumstances,” Holst said.

Federal officials are investigating allegations that Asch and his former partners, Dr. Jose P. Balmaceda and Dr. Sergio Stone have engaged in mail fraud, tax evasion and fertility-drug smuggling, but no charges against the three have been announced. All three doctors deny intentional wrongdoing.

Asch’s lawsuit adds to the mounting litigation stemming from the UCI fertility scandal. Thus far, about 40 former patients have sued Asch, his partners and the university.

On Thursday, the former executive director of the UCI Medical Center and her deputy filed another lawsuit against the university, alleging they were wrongfully fired.

A court hearing regarding Asch’s salary is slated for March 29, while another one to consider his legal fees is set for April 5.

Times staff writer Julie Marquis contributed to this report.