Hoeper v. City and County of San Francisco

Whistleblower

San Francisco County

Superior Court Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor

Plaintiff's Lawyers: Therese Y. Cannata, Karl Olson, Cannata, O'Toole, Fickes & Almazan LLP

Defense Lawyers: John W. Keker, Susan J. Harriman, Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP

A jury awarded $2.6 million in March 2017 to a whistleblower in the San Francisco city attorney's office, and the city has paid millions more to defend itself.

"[San Francisco district attorney] Dennis Herrera has never shown any indication that he cares very much about spending the city's money," said Karl Olson, plaintiff Joanne Hoeper's lawyer in the case.

But with outside counsel from John Keker of Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP, a former city commissioner, the city has appealed.

"We take our responsibilities to our clients and to the public seriously," Herrera spokesman John Cote said in a statement upon the case's appeal. "It's unfortunate the jury did not recognize that the city attorney had independent reasons for terminating Ms. Hoeper."

A 20-year veteran at the city attorney's office, Hoeper's case stemmed from a FBI tip that the City Attorney's Office Claims Bureau was handing illicit claims to sewer owners whose lateral sewer lines were damaged by city tree roots.

The city paid north of $19 million in claims between 2002 and 2011, according to Hoeper's preliminary investigation, even though no other California city paid to replace private sewers that allegedly were harmed by city tree roots.

Herrera first let the investigation proceed, according to Olson and co-counsel Therese Cannata, both of Cannata, O'Toole, Fickes & Almazan LLP, but later killed it and dismissed Hoeper.

Olson said he hopes the case will encourage workers to use California's strong whistleblower protection laws to report wrongdoing and fraud.

The case has the added intrigue of millions of dollars in city money going to Herrera's defense. In January 2017, before the case went to a two-week trial, a public records request showed that the city spent $2.5 million on the case.

That was before San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor awarded $2.4 million in fees to plaintiffs' attorneys, Taylor denied defendant's judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and the plaintiff appealed.

Olson estimated that the city has spent at least $5 million on the case. The city has declined to provide an updated fee figure, citing attorney-client privilege.

-- Matthew Blake