A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday sided with the city in a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit brought by City Controller auditor Soledad Gomez, who claimed she was passed over for permanent investigator posts after reporting suspected wrongdoing during a 2019 temporary assignment. The verdict closes out Gomez’s bid to convince jurors that her disclosure played a role in the hiring decisions she challenged.

Jury backs City Hall over retaliation claim

Attorneys for the city argued in court papers that Gomez was simply performing routine investigative work and that the Controller’s Office, the Ethics Commission and the City Attorney’s Office had legitimate, nonretaliatory reasons for choosing other candidates, according to MyNewsLA. As reported by the outlet, jurors ultimately decided that Gomez’s disclosure of what she believed was unlawful activity was not a contributing factor in the decision not to hire her for a permanent civil-service post.

Audit fights, DWP contracts and an FBI raid

Gomez’s lawsuit was filed alongside related claims from another Controller’s Office auditor who alleged supervisors discouraged close scrutiny of certain Department of Water and Power contracts. In July 2019, the FBI executed search warrants at the DWP and City Hall East in a probe tied to the utility’s troubled billing-system rollout, background previously reported by the Los Angeles Times.

How Gomez’s case survived, then stalled

Gomez’s single retaliation claim stayed alive after Los...

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