Note: This story contains graphic descriptions of sexual abuse. If you or someone you know may be a victim of sexual abuse, confidential support, information and advice are available at the National Sexual Assault Hotline by calling 800-656-4673. Text chat is also available online.

More than five years after allegations came to light that West Linn doctor David Farley had been sexually abusing dozens of his female patients, the civil trial involving him and the medical institutions he worked at is finally beginning.

The lawsuit, which started in October 2020 with allegations that Farley had sexually abused four women, now claims the doctor abused 180 of his patients.

Farley practiced as a family medicine doctor and obstetrician-gynecologist in the community for more than 30 years. He quietly retired in August of 2020 as the Oregon Medical Board investigated claims he committed sexual misconduct and photographed nude children. He surrendered his license later that year.

Upon retirement, he relocated to St. Anthony, Idaho, where he briefly worked as a middle school substitute teacher until people there learned of the allegations against him. He now lives in Utah.

In Oregon, Farley faces 16 criminal charges for the alleged abuse. He’s pleaded not guilty and has a criminal trial scheduled to begin next year.

Farley, West Linn Family Health Center (the clinic he opened in 1989) and Legacy Meridian Park (one of the hospitals he was allowed to practice at) have all recently settled with the patients who sued them, according to court documents.

Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center, where he primarily delivered babies and practiced gynecology, is the only defendant continuing to fight the case.

Court documents don’t say how much the parties settled for and attorneys in the case are forbidden from talking to the media by a judge’s order. The plaintiffs were seeking $970 million in damages.

Barring a last-minute settlement between the plaintiffs and Providence, the trial will begin on Monday. Because the other defendants have settled, the proceedings will largely focus on whether Providence is culpable in Farley’s alleged abuse.

The complexity and sheer size of the litigation, with allegations from nearly 200 plaintiffs, led the court and parties to agree to split the legal proceedings into what’s known as a “bellwether trial.” This means the trial will take place in multiple phases.

By litigating the claims of a handful of sample plaintiffs, a bellwether trial is thought of as a test case that can help the parties achieve a settlement by showing each side’s strengths and weaknesses and how a jury could rule. However, if the parties do not reach a settlement, the trial could last through multiple bellwether rounds.

For the first “bellwether,” the parties chose six plaintiffs whose allegations will be adjudicated. Each of the six was seen and treated by Farley at all three medical locations: West Linn Family Health, Legacy and Providence.

These six plaintiffs were further divided by where they allege the abuse took place. The first two plaintiffs whose claims will be on trial say they were abused by Farley at the clinic and Providence’s Willamette Falls Medical Center. Proceedings for these two plaintiffs are scheduled to take place between Feb. 2 and Feb. 20, though that timeline is subject to change.

The first of these patients, identified in court documents only as A.H., alleges Farley first abused her when she was 5 years old, when the doctor performed a pelvic exam.

According to the lawsuit, the exams continued with increasing frequency between 2001 and 2017. This included an exam in 2004 at Farley’s home, after the doctor diagnosed her with an ovarian cyst.

He asked her to come to his home, the lawsuit alleges, and sexually abused her while he conducted a pelvic exam on his bed.

Several years later, while A.H. was giving birth at Providence, Farley allegedly “manually broke her water” and sexually abused her while “placing monitors on the baby’s head” while the infant was still in her womb. According to the lawsuit, this was witnessed by Providence staff.

In a separate incident at Providence, A.H. allegedly commented to a nurse how “quick and painless” a cervical check performed by another doctor was, to which the nurse commented she “must be a patient of Farley’s.”

Providence staff supposedly made a similar comment to plaintiff C.B., the other patient who will be the focus of the first trial phase.

According to the lawsuit, “In or around August 2019, Providence staff witnessed Farley sexually abuse C.B., and a Providence employee then told C.B. that a cervical check ‘is not supposed to hurt like that’ and ‘Farley is (Providence’s) most rigorous cervix checker.’”

C.B. also allegedly told Providence staff that the breech flip they performed prior to the delivery of her baby was “nowhere near as painful” as Farley’s “membrane sweeps.” The staff’s response “indicated that they were aware of Farley’s violent and abusive practices,” the lawsuit alleges.

The second phase of the first bellwether will focus on a single patient who Farley allegedly abused at both the family health clinic and Legacy. It’s scheduled to go from March 2 through March 13.

The final phase of the bellwether, which concerns the allegations of three plaintiffs abused at the clinic, has not been scheduled.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/02/west-linn-doctor-sexual-abuse-lawsuit-trial-begins/