CVN screenshot of defense attorney Savannah Skelton delivering her opening statement
Los Angeles, CA - A California state court jury heard opening statements Friday in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by a former Baldwin Park housing manager claiming she was forced to resign after complaining about supposed misuse of federal funds, and the full trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
Plaintiff Suzanne Ruelas sued Baldwin Park after retiring in 2019. She alleges she was forced to resign after voicing complaints about decisions made by the city’s finance director, in addition to being discriminated against due to her age and ethnicity after accusing the city’s CEO of supposedly making racially insensitive comments. Baldwin Park maintains Ruelas only lodged her complaints after being denied a raise.
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Plaintiff attorney Mahru Madjidi of Shegerian & Associates told the Los Angeles County jury during her opening statement that Ruelas 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 Madjidi said Ruelas became concerned when Rose Tam, the city’s director of finance, supposedly began improperly redirecting those funds to pay for staff in her office.
“When she did complain about these things she was told she’s difficult, she’s not being cooperative, and she was gaslighted,” Madjidi described.
She also detailed how Madjidi 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.
Madjidi told jurors Ruelas ultimately resigned after being informed that as the head of the housing department she would ultimately bear responsibility for any misuse of federal funds, which Madjidi said made her continued employment impossible.
“This was part of much bigger problem of people in the city, council members and others, making corrupt motivated financial decisions that were not for the benefit of the city of Baldwin Park or its people,” she said. “They were motivated by political and personal gain.”
Defense attorney Savannah Skelton of Leal Trejo APC asked jurors to reject that argument, instead suggesting that Ruelas’ complaints stemmed entirely from being denied a salary increase known as “longevity pay” the year before her resignation.
Skelton told the jury 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.
“Ms. Ruelas filed a complaint alleging discrimination, harassment based on her gender and her race against none other than Shannon Yauchzee, the CEO who told her no,” Skelton argued.
Skelton also disputed the validity of Ruelas’ concerns about Tam’s use of federal funds, telling jurors those funds can be used for overhead costs like hiring accountants, adding that despite her long tenure Ruelas did not have director-level authority.
“Her disagreement doesn’t make the decisions of the city fraudulent,” Skelton stressed, noting that Ruelas ultimately left her job with retirement benefits and resigned after a period of seeming worsening health issues.
The trial is taking place before Judge J. Stephen Czuleger, and CVN’s live and on-demand coverage will continue for the duration of the proceedings.
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
