Judge gives green light to whistleblowers’ depositions in Civic San Diego case

In an ongoing case against the quasi-governmental agency responsible for approving San Diego development projects, a superior court judge has ruled that a former board member may depose four current and former agency employees.

The employees have filed separate whistleblower complaints against Civic San Diego, which is responsible for issuing building permits and allocating tax credits to finance private development projects in downtown San Diego.

Last week, Judge Richard E. L. Strauss ruled against CivicSD’s motion to stop attorneys for Murtaza Baxamusa — a former CivicSD board of directors member — from taking depositions of Robert Avery, the former chief financial officer of CivicSD; Derek Hull, the company’s former economic development manager; and John Anderson and Cynthia Suero-Gabler, current employees of the company.

Avery had been designated by CivicSD as the person most knowledgeable on financial issues when Baxamusa filed a deposition notice. Several days before Avery’s scheduled deposition, CivicSD said that he was no longer the person most knowledgeable. A day before the deposition, he was fired from his post, according to attorney Steven T. Coopersmith, who represents Baxamusa in the case. Baxamusa et. al. v. Civic San Diego et. al., 37-2015-00012092-CU-PT-CTL (S.D. Super. Ct., filed Apr. 10, 2015).

In the motion to stop the depositions from going forward, CivicSD asserted privacy rights on behalf of the deponents and argued that the information sought was irrelevant.

CivicSD failed to note, however, that the four deponents were represented by separate legal counsel.

Dan Gilleon, who represents Avery, Anderson and Suero-Gabler, confirmed that CivicSD asserted his clients’ privacy rights without contacting them ahead of the motion’s filing.

“They were asserting privacy rights without asking us,” he said, adding that the motion CivicSD filed was merely “an attempt to stonewall.”

The lawsuit dates back to 2015, when Baxamusa filed a petition in superior court to have a judge determine the legal restrictions placed on the authority of CivicSD. Baxamusa was halfway through a three-year term on the board of directors when he filed the suit. He said he felt uncomfortable about the process of approving a proposed project, observing that CivicSD had little oversight from the local government and, in his estimation, often awarded projects to applicants who had connections to board members.

“As a board member, I really felt that there needed to be a clear demarcation between our permitting responsibilities as a government agency, exerting the police powers of the state, versus entrepreneurial activities that were public-private partnerships that were malleable in terms of how competitive they could be,” he said.

According to Baxamusa, several CivicSD employees brought their concerns about the organization to him, but never came forward until after he filed the lawsuit.

Gilleon said that, although Anderson and Suero-Gabler have not been fired, CivicSD has been a hostile work environment for them since they’ve come forward with their complaints of wrongdoing.

He expects to file a wrongful termination suit on behalf of Avery soon and said he will file constructive wrongful discharge suits on behalf of Anderson and Suero-Gabler in the event that their work environment becomes so intolerable that they feel forced to leave.

Coopersmith said that he expects the depositions of Avery, Hull, Anderson and Suero-Gabler to take place in late July or early August.

A representative from CivicSD said that the company could not give a comment because of its active involvement in the ongoing litigation. Matthew L. Green, of counsel at Best Best & Krieger LLP, who represents CivicSD, was unavailable for comment.