Woman ordered to pay physician $2.8 million
A woman who accused her doctor of sexually molesting her — and of allowing his identical-twin brother to impersonate him to assault her — must pay the doctor $2.8 million because she fabricated the allegations and damaged the doctor's reputation, a Pierce County judge ruled Wednesday.
Judge Katherine Stolz also slapped the woman's lawyer with a $300,000 fine, saying he was a knowing participant in the falsehoods against the physician, Dr. Dennis Momah, and his brother, Dr. Charles Momah.
The ruling is the latest in a long saga involving the brothers, each of whom has been repeatedly accused by former patients of medical malpractice, sexual improprieties and, in some cases, impersonating the other. In November, Charles Momah, an obstetrician-gynecologist who practiced in Federal Way and Burien, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexual crimes against other female patients. He has appealed while in prison.
The judge's ruling Wednesday, on a counterclaim filed by Dennis Momah, does not affect Charles Momah's criminal convictions, which included one count of second-degree rape, one count of third-degree rape and two counts of indecent liberties.
Dennis Momah has not been charged with any crimes relating to the allegations.
Stolz dismissed plaintiff Perla Saldivar's case. She ruled that in Saldivar's separate lawsuit against both Dennis and Charles Momah, unconnected to the criminal case, the plaintiff's allegations had been contradictory, "contrary to common sense," and inconsistent with evidence such as medical records and patient sign-in sheets.
"The contradictions and inconsistencies in Ms. Saldivar's testimony were some of the most pronounced this Court has ever seen," Stolz wrote. "This Court finds that Perla Saldivar knowingly and intentionally fabricated her allegations against Dr. Dennis Momah and Dr. Charles Momah."
Saldivar had sued Dennis Momah in 2004, alleging he sexually assaulted her during an exam. She added Charles Momah to the lawsuit later.
Dennis Momah has not practiced medicine for the past two years. Stolz, in her ruling, said he suffered a stroke in 2004 that she blamed on Saldivar's "false allegations."
On top of the $2.8 million to Dennis Momah, Stolz ordered Saldivar and her husband, Albert, to pay attorneys' fees and costs to Dennis Momah and to US Healthworks, his employer at the time.
Albert Saldivar said he and his wife would appeal the ruling, "an unjust blunder that flies right into the face of public policy of protecting victims of sexual crimes, and sends the wrong message — that it pays to be a sexual predator."
The judge also ordered the Saldivars' lawyer, Harish Bharti of Seattle, who represents most of the other former patients who are suing the Momahs, to pay Dennis Momah $250,000 and pay the court $50,000 in sanctions.
Bharti also must "prominently" post the judge's scathing ruling on his Web site for as long as the site contains any reference to the Momahs, and at least for a year.
The judge said Bharti was an "active and knowing participant in the fabrication of Perla Saldivar's ever-changing accusations against Dennis Momah." The judge also said Bharti filed "irrelevant and salacious" allegations just to get media attention and "harass and damage the reputation" of Dennis Momah.
Bharti says he is appealing the sanctions. "Everything worthwhile I did in my life, I caught hell for," he said. "This is the most worthwhile cause I will ever do in my life."
Dennis Momah sued Bharti for defamation in a separate action in King County Superior Court in 2004, but the case was dismissed. Momah has appealed that dismissal.
Kim Broy, a friend of the Momah family, said she hopes Stolz's decision will curb other false claims against the physician brothers.
"I pray that one by one, these women will see what happens when you lie," she said. "Dennis had to sell his house years ago, and he hasn't been working. This haunts him everywhere he goes."
Carol M. Ostrom: 206-464-2249 or costrom@seattletimes.com