Facts

Plaintiff Maria Banico, a former planning department manager for defendant city of East Palo Alto, sued defendant for wrongful termination and retaliatory discharge.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
The plaintiff contended defendant wrongfully terminated her in retaliation for protected conduct, including complaints of city officials' undisclosed pecuniary interests in a second mortgage to a developer, and other conflicts of interest resulting in improper votes and code violations on important development projects that were either ignored or suppressed. The plaintiff had also complained that defendant improperly selected an environmental consultant.

The plaintiff contended her discharge was also motivated by her refusal of the City Manager's directive to sign a final inspection certificate on a project when the planning department had not actually inspected the project.

Settlement Discussions

The plaintiff claimed defendant refused to settle at a pre-litigation mediation. Plaintiff then filed her complaint and took depositions of the city manager and city attorney. The defendant deposed plaintiff and agreed to settle at the second mediation.

Result

Mediator Mark Rudy conducted a second mediation, during which the defendants settled for $375,000 in favor of plaintiff.