Avitia

MEMORANDUM *

The principal plaintiff in this case, Laurentina Avitia, filed this action after she *773 was sexually assaulted by her doctor at the Clinieas del Camino Real. The United States is the defendant under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346 , 2671 et. seq., because the clinic, as a recipient of federal funds, is an employee of the United States. 42 U.S.C. § 233 . The United States appeals from the district court’s judgment holding it liable because the clinic and the clinic’s employees, in violation of clinic policy, failed to provide a chaperone to Avitia during her gynecological exam. The United States also challenges the failure of the district court to apportion damages. The district court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1346 (b). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

Because the alleged tort occurred in California, we apply California tort law. See 28 U.S.C. § 2674 . To determine California law, we look first to decisions of the state’s highest court, West v. AT & T, 311 U.S. 223, 237-38 , 61 S.Ct. 179 , 85 L.Ed. 139 (1940), and then to “all available data,” Harbeson v. Parke Davis, Inc., 746 F.2d 517, 521 (9th Cir.1984) (internal quotation…