UC San Diego filed new allegations against USC on Wednesday in an ongoing lawsuit over control of a major Alzheimer's research project.
In its amended complaint, UC San Diego alleges USC attempted to poach staff from its Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) by holding a "job fair" in a hotel across the street from the project's La Jolla offices.
UC San Diego claims the event pressured staffers to follow former ADCS director Paul Aisen to USC in order to keep their jobs. Attendees were allegedly told to "look their best" before meeting with USC representatives about securing a position within Aisen's new USC-affiliated institute, according to court papers:
Representatives of Defendant USC were also heard saying, “we have a job for everyone at the ADCS,” and that the ADCS employees must apply right away as “we [USC] need to get these positions filled immediately.”
UC San Diego vice chancellor David Brenner issued a statement, saying, "The amended complaint reminds us why we are in this situation to begin with: the brazen, egregious, unethical and soon-to-be demonstrated illegal acts of Aisen and his conspirators to steal a 24-year-old research program from UC San Diego."
USC representatives denied any wrongdoing, saying in a written statement, "Every employer has the right to recruit the most talented and able employees and every employee has the right to freely accept another job."
The proper venue for the lawsuit remains in dispute. USC requested the case be moved to federal court, while UC San Diego contends it belongs in state court.
Ownership over the many Alzheimer's trials involved in the ADCS has become fractured. UC San Diego has held onto federal funding, and a San Diego judge has ordered USC to return control of the program's central database to UC San Diego.
But some drug companies, including Eli Lilly and Co., have already begun transferring grants from UC San Diego to USC.
