Former Exec Sues ICN for Harassment

A former manager at ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Irvine-based company, alleging that its controversial chairman, Milan Panic, repeatedly made unwanted sexual advances toward her.

The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, is the third sexual harassment case brought against Panic in less than four years. In it, Mary Martinelli, the drug company’s former director of human resources, claims that Panic requested sex from her even though she consistently refused his advances.

Martinelli also charged in the lawsuit that other ICN executives have known since 1992 of Panic’s unwanted advances and haven’t taken measures to stop him, even after other former employees had filed harassment cases.

Martinelli, 36, seeks to recover unspecified lost pay and benefits, in addition to general and punitive damages.

The company, in a statement, denied Martinelli’s allegations and stressed that the company has a long-standing policy against sexual harassment.

It attributed Martinelli’s allegations to what “appears to be another attempt to capitalize at the expense of a high-profile individual and seek rapid financial gain.”

Martinelli’s suit follows by less than seven months ICN’s settlement of a previous sexual harassment case with another former employee, Debra Levy.

Levy claimed that Panic pressured her into having sex and fathered her child before forcing her from her job. The company and Panic denied the harassment charges, and Panic denied paternity.

In 1993, the company settled a sexual harassment case brought by former employee Colleen James. She charged that she was fired after she threatened to make trouble over his advances. Panic denied the charges.

Martinelli claims in her lawsuit that Panic began pressing her to have drinks with him in 1989, when he became her direct supervisor.

Later, while on a European business trip, Martinelli claims that Panic kept putting his hand on her leg during their drive to the airport. At a London hotel, she alleges that he insisted she take a room next to his, tried to pull her toward him and said he wanted to watch her bathe.

That evening, while intoxicated, he forcefully asked for sex, she claims, but she escaped into her room and locked the door.

In 1992, Martinelli claims she refused to accompany him to Spain on a trip involving his new position as prime minister of Yugoslavia--a post he held for less than a year. She claims that he retaliated by requesting a letter noting her disloyalty be placed in her personnel file.

Martinelli said that when she complained to David Watt, ICN’s general counsel, and John Giordani, its chief financial officer, both promised that nothing would be put in her file.