A billionaire healthcare executive, his daughter and another senior leader say they were singled out in an intimidating nurse-union campaign that covered their affluent Los Angeles neighborhood with fliers urging people to “track them down” and warning that they “can’t hide.”
Dr. Prem Reddy, founder, chairman and chief executive of Prime Healthcare, alleges in a lawsuit that the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United went beyond lawful labor demonstrations by targeting executives’ homes and relatives in Brentwood.
According to the complaint, union activists distributed fliers showing aerial images, square-footage figures and other details about the private residences. Banners and signs were also allegedly fastened to utility poles, streetlights, trees and private vehicles.
The campaign left families worried about their safety, the lawsuit says. Younger children were reportedly kept indoors and could not play in their own yard.
Prime Healthcare is asking for a temporary restraining order, along with preliminary and permanent injunctions against the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United.
The case was filed less than two years after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed on a Midtown Manhattan street on Dec. 4, 2024, a crime that reverberated across the healthcare industry.
Luigi Mangione has pleaded guilty to stalking and murdering Thompson and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 18.
Prime Healthcare ranks among the largest health systems in the United States, with 51 hospitals in 14 states and 60,000 employees and affiliated physicians.
The company generates approximately $7.4 billion in annual revenue.
The alleged intimidation effort began Sept. 3, when union activists arrived in Brentwood, the neighborhood where members of Reddy’s family and other Prime executives live, the lawsuit states.
Reddy does not live in Brentwood, according to the complaint, but remains connected to the community through relatives who reside there, including his daughter and grandchildren.
One flier, titled “Where in the World is Dr. Reddy?,” allegedly called on members of the public to “track down” the billionaire healthcare executive.
The materials reportedly displayed images of at least three executives’ homes and provided information such as aerial photographs, square footage and property descriptions.
Those allegedly targeted included Reddy’s daughter, Sunitha Reddy, who serves as Prime’s chief revenue officer and vice president of operations, along with company President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sunny Bhatia.
Prime says it spent hours taking down banners and removing litter left throughout the neighborhood.
The lawsuit says the material was distressing because it appeared near executives’ homes and a nearby school, where children witnessed the alleged campaign.
‘Sunitha Reddy’s home is located near a school. Younger children were thereafter kept inside and could not use their own private yard to play out of concern for their safety,’ the complaint says.
Prime alleges the union’s aim was ‘to inflict stress on the families of Prime Healthcare executives’ to gain leverage in labor negotiations with its hospitals.
The company claims it sent the union a cease-and-desist letter on Sept. 9 demanding that the residential targeting stop.
But according to the complaint, a union attorney contacted Prime the following day and allegedly suggested the targeting of executives’ homes could end if Reddy agreed to meet with the union – conduct Prime’s lawyers claim was ‘tantamount to economic extortion.’
Prime also claims it sought help from the LAPD on Sept. 9 and 10 but received no response, and separately reported the issue to the Los Angeles City Council, again without receiving a response.
The dispute escalated further after Bryant Aguilar, a California Nurses Association representative who works at Prime-owned Centinela Hospital, allegedly sent a message calling on nurses to gather in the neighborhood for a Sept. 11 rally.
‘We will be joining together in Dr. Reddy’s neighborhood and rally near his residence,’ the message said, according to the lawsuit.
The message called on Centinela nurses to participate, and Prime said the hospital employs hundreds of nurses, raising fears that a large crowd could assemble outside executives’ homes.
Prime is asking a judge to bar the unions from alleged harassment and intimidation around executives’ homes and families, including targeted picketing within 300 feet of their homes and unpermitted banners or signs.
The company is also seeking nominal and punitive damages.
The California Nurses Association was contacted for comment.
The union posted a video of members protesting Monday on X with the caption: ‘Nurses across the country are rising up systemwide against Prime Healthcare because Prime endangers patients and nurses by putting profits above all else.’
