Judge dismisses former employee’s claims against accounting firm employees

A federal judge dismissed part of a lawsuit against PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP filed on behalf of a former employee, who claims he was wrongfully fired for complaining to the Securities and Exchange Commission about illegal accounting practices.

The order by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg of the Northern District, issued Tuesday, dismisses whistleblower retaliation, breach of contract and defamation claims and state law claims of wrongful termination and retaliation in what defense attorneys at Hueston Hennigan LLP consider a big victory.

The judge granted leave to amend for the defamation claim against PriceWaterhouseCoopers, but the Hueston Hennigan team believes the plaintiffs won't succeed because the judge didn't grant leave to amend for a related defamation claim against supervisor Steve McCann.

Claims against all of the individual defendants were dismissed without leave to amend.

Seeborg wrote that the only allegation about McCann's attitudes toward the fired employee, Mauro Botta, "defeats any suggestion of actual malice," according to the 11-page ruling. The complaint already has been amended once. Botta v. PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, 18-CV02615 (N.D. Cal. filed May 3, 2018).

Botta is represented by Ingrid M. Evans of Evans Law Firm Inc., in San Francisco, and Alexander G. Cabeceiras of Derek Smith Law Group PLLC, in New York. Neither were immediately available for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Seeborg's ruling preserves claims against PriceWaterhouseCoopers "for retaliation, defamation, breach of contract, and wrongful termination," according to an email from Hueston Hennigan marketing manager Elsa Weiss. "We are optimistic that Judge Seeborg will agree these claims lack all merit later in the proceedings."

The Hueston Hennigan team includes partner John C. Hueston, senior associate Joe Reiter and associate Yegor Fursevich.