CVN screenshot of defense attorney Savannah Skelton delivering her closing argument
Los Angeles, CA - A California state court jury delivered a defense verdict earlier the month in a lawsuit filed by a former City of Baldwin Park housing manager claiming she was forced to resign, and the full trial was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The Los Angeles County jury returned their verdict on May 22 in a trial that began on May 9. Plaintiff Suzanne Ruelas sued Baldwin Park after retiring in 2019, alleging she was forced to quit after voicing complaints about supposed misuse of federal funds, in addition to being discriminated against due to her age and ethnicity after accusing the city’s CEO of supposedly making racially insensitive comments.
Her attorneys sought roughly $6.7 million in damages, but the defense successfully argued that Ruelas' problems in the workplace were the result of being denied a raise, and that the federal funds in question were spent on authorized projects.
The full trial is available for unlimited on-demand viewing with a subscription to CVN’s online trial video library, which also includes hundreds more trials featuring many of the top plaintiff and defense attorneys in the country.
Ruelas’ attorneys told jurors how she worked for Baldwin Park for 32 years, ultimately rising to the senior role of housing manager despite not having a college degree. Part of her job involved overseeing disbursement of federal funds like Section 8 rental assistance, and Ruelas became concerned when the city’s director of finance supposedly began improperly redirecting those funds to pay for staff in her office.
The defense countered that those funds can be used for overhead costs like hiring accountants, adding that despite her long tenure Ruelas did not have director-level authority and lacked the necessary knowledge to know whether the funds were being properly disbursed or not.
Counsel for Ruelas also detailed how she became alarmed after overhearing former city CEO Shannon Yauchzee supposedly make racially insensitive comments, telling jurors that after bringing her concerns to the city’s mayor Yauchzee became aware of them, and that Ruelas soon found herself excluded from budget meetings and placed under HR investigation.
However the defense countered that complaint was not made in good faith but rather stemmed entirely from Ruelas being denied a salary increase known as “longevity pay” the year before her resignation. According to the defense longevity pay is generally reserved for high-turnover jobs in unionized positions like police officers, and that the job of telling Ruelas she did not qualify ultimately fell to Yauchzee.
Attorneys for the parties did not respond to a request for comment.
Ruelas was represented by Shegerian Law.
The City of Baldwin Park was represented by Leal-Trejo.
The trial took place before Judge J. Stephen Czuleger.
The case is captioned Suzanne Ruelas v. City of Baldwin Park, et al., case number 20STCV17682 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
