REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT - Talking about the mean girls on multiple trial days

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO

Civil Action No. 22-cv-00986-CNS-STV

DONQUENICK YVONNE JOPPY, Plaintiff, vs.HCA-HEALTHONE LLC, D/B/A THE MEDICAL
CENTER OF AURORA, Defendant.

Proceedings before the HONORABLE CHARLOTTE N. SWEENEY, Judge, United States District Court for the District of Colorado, and a jury of nine, commencing on the 12th day of August, 2025, in Courtroom A-702, United States Courthouse, Denver, Colorado.

REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT Jury Trial - Day 2
For the Plaintiff: JENNIFER C. ROBINSON, Robinson & Associates Law Offices
PLAINTIFF'S WITNESS LINDSAY JORDAN
Direct Examination By Ms. Robinson pages 433 - 436

Q. Now, you are aware of the mean girls clique reputation among ICU charge nurses, correct?
A. No, I'm not aware.

Q. You weren't aware of that at any time?
A. No.

Q. Multiple people, Katie Weihe, Nikki Schoolcraft -- well, let me ask you this. Were you ever told that you were problematic in any way with your interactions with the bedside nurses?
A. No.

Q. And I want to go over some names to be specific, but Paul Page never told you you were a problem or people perceived you negatively?
A. No.

Q. Nikki Schoolcraft never told you you were a problem or people perceived you negatively?
A. No.

Q. Breanne Burley never told you you were a problem or people perceived you negatively?
A. No.

Q. Katie Weihe or anybody else in human resources never told you that you were a problem or people were perceiving you negatively?
A. No.

Q. So there was no investigation into your behavior, correct?
A. No, because there was no behavior to investigate.

Q. You received no coaching, no discipline, no PIP at any time for your conduct?
A. No.

Q. And you do acknowledge, though, that bullying can be a form of race discrimination, correct?
A. Yes.

Q. And you agree that The Medical Center of Aurora has a duty to investigate bullying complaints, correct?

MR. POWELL: Your Honor, I'm going to object to the leading nature of the questions at this point. She called this witness.
THE COURT: Overruled. I'll allow it.

Q. (By MS. ROBINSON) And you agree that The Medical Center of Aurora has the duty to investigate bullying complaints, correct?
A. Correct.

Q. Yes. And to your knowledge, they never investigated any mean girls issues or clique related to you, correct?
A. Correct.

Q. So there would be no way for you to stop this behavior if there was a problem if nobody told you about it; is that fair?
A. Yes.

Q. Did any of the other nurses tell you that they had a problem with your attitude towards them?
A. Never.

Q. Did Ms. Weihe, anybody else from HR investigate, have any coaching or concerns with you regarding how you were treating other people?
A. Like I said before, no.

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REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT Jury Trial - Day 2
For the Defendant: MARTINE T. WELLS, Greenberg Traurig LLP,
PLAINTIFF'S WITNESS KAREN WELTER
Cross Examination By Ms. Wells pages 398 - 400

Q. What was your personal experience with nurses in the 2018, 2019 timeframe when you started working in that ICU?
A. I got along with most of my coworkers just fine.

Q. Did you have trouble with any of the charge nurses?
A. You know, occasionally in high stress environments I think some people's leadership skills don't exactly come through, and, you know, there were some unpleasantness with maybe a charge nurse here or there, but nothing that really like was too serious.

Q. Do you remember any specifically?
A. Lindsay Jordan.

Q. What do you remember specifically about Lindsay?
A. Just some unpleasant interactions, for sure, between us. I think sometimes she struggled to maybe be that like -- like, a good mentor sometimes to other nurses.

Q. And you experienced that?
A. Yeah, like, I had some unpleasant interactions sometimes, but nothing too serious.

Q. Was she a bad nurse?
A. No. She was a very good nurse.

Q. Did you ever observe her have these types of unpleasant interactions with other nurses?
A. Not that I can recall.

Q. But you personally had these interactions with her?
A. Yes.

Q. Did you ever observe her have these types of interactions with Ms. Joppy?
A. Not personally, no.

Q. Did you ever observe Ms. Joppy have -- have bad interactions with other nurses, either on the receiving end or otherwise?
A. No.

Q. Did Ms. Joppy ever complain to you that she felt bullied?
A. Yes. I believe she had said that she did not enjoy working with Lindsay, but I don't know about bullied, per se.

Q. Do you remember anything else about what she might have confided in you?
A. Not really.

Q. Do you remember if she told you that she felt targeted by Lindsay because of her race?
A. No.

Q. Did you observe that Lindsay targeted her perhaps because of the color of her skin?
A. No.

MS. WELLS: No other questions at this time.
THE COURT: All right.

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REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT Jury Trial - Day 2
For the Plaintiff: ELIZABETH J. SANFORD, Sanford Firm
PLAINTIFF'S WITNESS AMANDA HAYES
Direct Examination By Ms. Sanford pages 508 - 512

Q. When you were an interim supervisor and also charge nurse back in May of 2019, or really all of 2019, did you work with Ms. DonQuenick Joppy?
A. I did.

Q. And did you have any problems when you worked with her?
A. No.

Q. Did you have a friendly relationship with her?
A. We did.

Q. Were you able to view her work quality and analyze it, see it?
A. Yeah, I worked alongside her, yeah.

Q. Would you say she was good at her job, she was a good nurse?
A. Yeah.

Q. Was she compassionate?
A. Yes.

Q. Did she have integrity?
A. Yes.

Q. Was she respectful to all her peers and supervisors?
A. From what I saw, yes.

Q. It's true that Ms. Joppy told you she had several issues with Lindsay Jordan; is that right?

MS. WELLS: Objection, Your Honor, fact not in evidence.
THE COURT: Overruled. You can answer.

A. I don't remember speaking specifically about Lindsay Jordan.

Q. (By MS. SANFORD) Did she ever speak to you about Mike O., how she felt isolated that she couldn't go to the mandatory huddles because of some of her -- the charge nurses?
A. I don't remember her using specific names in relation to -- I remember having a lot of conversations with her when I was a fellow nurse alongside her working nightshift, but I don't remember specific names necessarily, nothing that stuck out to me.

Q. You're aware there was a group of charge nurses at the hospital in the ICU department that were labeled mean girls?
A. They weren't all charge nurses, but there was a group of, yeah, nurses there that were labeled as mean girls, yeah.

Q. Lindsay Jordan was one of those?
A. I don't know. They were never mean to me, so I don't remember necessarily.

Q. But you learned that Lindsay Jordan was a part of the group of mean girls, right?
A. Yeah, from what I heard, yes.

Q. And you know Mike O. was one of the mean girls, right, even though he's a guy?
A. Yes.

Q. Do you know who Kylie Markle is?
A. No.

Q. You had a couple of friends, nurses, at the hospital that ended up quitting because of the culture at the hospital, true?
A. Yes.

Q. There was a high turnover rate because of supervisor complaints, true?
A. True.

Q. Have you been trained on what discrimination looks like in the workplace?
A. Yes.

Q. You all do yearly training modules, things like that?
A. Yeah.

Q. And that includes training on what retaliation in the workplace looks like as well?
A. Not that I remember necessarily.

Q. Okay. You don't remember being trained on what retaliation looks like in the workplace?
A. Not that I remember, but we had hundreds of these videos, so very well could have had a video on something like that.

Q. Okay. Have you been trained on the different signs and red flags of discrimination in the workplace?
A. Yeah, probably.

Q. So, for example, if there's a high turnover rate based on complaints of supervisors, that could be a sign of discrimination, right?
A. It could be.

Q. And if there's bullying in the workplace, that could be a sign of discrimination, right?
A. Yeah, it could be.

Q. Toxic work environment, hostile attitude, those could be signs of discrimination in the workplace?
A. It could be, yeah.

Q. If there's a lack of diversity in a department, could that be a sign of discrimination in the workplace?
A. It could be.

Q. Did you know of any other African-American or black nurses in the ICU unit in May of 2019 besides Ms. Joppy?
A. Yes.

Q. Who?
A. Joyce.

Q. She resigned three months earlier. Do you remember that?
A. Oh, I don't know. I remember working with her. I don't remember when she resigned.

Q. So you don't remember working with two black nurses at the hospital in the ICU department?
A. I never occurred to me to look around to see what color people were. I mean --

Q. Can you remember any person of color in management in the ICU department back in 2019?
A. No.

Q. We've heard a lot about the pods in the ICU unit. A through D are in one section. F pod is in another section. Is that what you remember?
A. Yes.

Q. Is it fair that F pod was more segregated than the other pods?
A. It was a very short walk.

Q. Like a football field?
A. No, not even that. I mean, I feel like it took a minute to walk from one pod to the next.

Q. Separated by a bridge?
A. Sure.

Q. And it was in a different tower?
A. It was a very short bridge, but you could call it a bridge, yeah.

Q. And it was in a different tower?
A. Sure, yes.

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REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT Jury Trial - Day 5
For the Plaintiff: ELIZABETH J. SANFORD, Sanford Firm
PLAINTIFF'S WITNESS NIKKI SCHOOLCRAFT
Redirect Examination By Ms. Sanford pages 1167-68

Q. Do you know that Lindsay Jordan was one of the mean girls, right?
A. Yes.

Q. She was still employed in May of 2019, correct?
A. I think she moved to cath lab at one point.

Q. She didn't leave until after Ms. Joppy was terminated, right?
A. I don't remember the dates of when she left.

Q. You don't know when she left?
A. I don't remember the dates. I know she left, but I don't know the specific dates.

Q. So it could have been after Ms. Joppy was terminated, true?
A. Sure.

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