Top Plaintiff's Verdict by Impact: Preston v. City of Oakland

Wrongful termination

Northern District

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathaniel M. Cousins

Plaintiff's lawyers: Siegel & Yee, Daniel M. Siegel, Sonya Z. Mehta

Defense lawyers: Lafayette & Kumagai LLP, Gary T. Lafayette, Africa E. Davidson, Jesper I. Rasmussen; Oakland city attorney's office, Maria Bee, Jennifer N. Logue, James F. Hodgkins, Arlene Marcia Rosen; Villarreal Hunter PC, Ross A. Boughton, David A. Lucero; Meyers Nave Riback Silver & Wilson APC, Jayne W. Williams, Geoffrey Spellberg, Camille H. Pating; Ruiz & Sperow LLP, Celia M. Ruiz, Forrest Fang, Janice L. Sperow

Whistleblowing got Daryelle LaWanna Preston fired from her job as a city of Oakland human resources employee overseeing worker relations. But her subsequent lawsuit on retaliation claims won $613,302 from San Jose federal jurors who agreed with her view of the case. Preston v. City of Oakland, 14-CV2022 (N.D. Cal., filed May 2, 2014).

Preston's boss, then-City Administrator Deanna Santana, fired her in 2013 after failing to follow Santana's order to conceal from the Oakland City Council that the city was failing to collect union dues from part-time employees who were members of the Service Employees International Union, Preston's complaint stated.

Preston also based her retaliation claim on an incident in which she notified Santana that Oakland's fire chief had met and negotiated with local firefighters without city council approval, violating city policy. Santana ignored the information and ordered the agreement to go forward, Preston's complaint alleged.

Santana left the Oakland job in 2014 to take a similar post in Sunnyvale. Preston got a job with the City and County of San Francisco's human resources department.

In September, the Northern District jury awarded Preston past and future lost earnings, future pension plan benefits and emotional distress damages.

Her lawyer, Daniel M. Siegel of Siegel & Yee, said, "The jury's decision validates my client's ongoing contention that she was doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing and that she was wrongly and unfairly terminated for maintaining orderly employee relations with the city."

"The city has taken a very punitive and retaliatory approach toward this litigation," Siegel added.

- John Roemer