A judge has ordered SANDAG pay $1.7M in lawyer fees to a whistleblower who was fired in 2023.
PRICE OF SAN DIEGO: We’re exploring the real cost of living in pricey San Diego County. Explore our new series.S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on today's show. A whistleblower was fired from Sandag after raising questions about the toll collection system.
Now Sandag is paying millions. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. So a whistleblower within the Sandag Association of Governments , or Sandag , was awarded millions three months after she was fired. Her name is Lauren Wareham. She was a former finance official who raised questions about flaws in sandbags toll collection system. And now Sandag is being ordered to pay her attorney's more than $1.7 million. That brings the total cost of her termination to more than $4 million. Joining me with the latest is Jeff McDonald. He's an investigative reporter with the San Diego Union-Tribune. Jeff , welcome.S1: Glad to have you here. Thanks for taking the time. Um , so bring me up to speed with the story up into this point. S2: Uh , rehired , I should say , at a more senior level. And within months , she identified some weaknesses and lapses in accounting with the tolls that we all pay to use , uh , the toll road section of State Route 125 , the South Bay Expressway. It used to be called , uh , she brought those concerns up at a meeting with , uh , some colleagues and her supervisor. Uh , and that didn't go over well. And within days , she was , uh , reprimanded and then fired. This was all 20 , 23. So the lawsuit was filed , uh , a couple of months after her termination , and that went to , um , arbitration , and she won that case late last year , winning about $2.5 million for economic losses. Emotional stress. She had to relocate to get a similar job. Uh , so those were the factors that led to her damages award. Um , what we reported this weekend is the attorney fees , which also go to the victor. Uh , so the law firm that represented her was awarded $1.7 million in change in , uh , in legal fees that Sandag will have to pay. So that's the latest. It puts the cost of the wrongful termination at about 4.2 million. Yeah.S2: The , um , equipment was not properly recording. Uh , both the fees that people were being charged , these are passholders and , uh , random one time users. Uh , as well as the fines that were being improperly assessed so that motorists were being charged for the the the price of using the tollway. They were also being fined wrongly , even though they had , uh , say , an easy pass. Uh , and then they were being assessed penalties that they weren't required or they shouldn't have been charged. Uh , this happened to , uh , roughly 45,000 different motorists. So a lot of people , uh , and uh , untold number of , uh , of , uh , you know , Miss Collections , uh , the auditors in charge of , uh , you know , keeping track of this knew about the problem. And we're aware of the problem for , for some years , um , and did not tell the board of directors , which turned out to be pretty problematic as well. Right.S2: Uh , and the , uh , organization says it is working to , uh , it has It has successfully addressed almost all of the concerns. Uh , this comes at a , uh , at a time when , you know , sandag this toll road , a lot of South County residents think it's unfair because they're being taxed twice , uh , since the organization paid for the expressway. Uh , but they're also having to pay to use it. It's the only toll road. Uh , well , there's a section of I-15 to the north. Um , but they want they want to see the tolls eliminated altogether. And that's something that Sandag is looking at , but not committed to as a body , uh , because they're reliant on the revenue to repay the bonds they issued to purchase the uh , ten mile section of roadway. Yeah.S2: Well , that's what Sandag would say. We're not talking about , you know , hundreds or thousands of dollars for each. We're talking about a handful of dollars for these people. Yeah. San Diego's position is this has all been remedied. And they have a new contractor. And things are things are accurate Now. Okay. S1: Okay. All right. Well , I mean , now , you know , the Sandag executive committee is considering a new whistleblower protection policy as a result of all this. S2: Uh , so , you know , you have to give sandag credit for , you know , creating a more specific policy directed right at whistleblowers. Uh , basically , the policy that's been put forward , uh , defines what a whistleblower is , says what protections they have if they come forward , how those , uh , how those concerns are supposed to be addressed. Uh , the one wrinkle in that , of course , is that a lot of these policies are already in place. Three years ago , when Miss Warren came forward and they were simply not exercised. Hmm. S1: Hmm. Do you think that more lawsuits could be coming as a result of of just the flaws in the system alone. S2: Um , probably not for the damaged motorists. Uh , those those cases. There was a class action case that was brought. It went nowhere and got dismissed. Uh , so that's over. This was basically a retaliation , wrongful termination , uh , lawsuit from an individual. So , no , I don't think this problem is going to lead to new or additional litigation , but it does give another black eye to , uh , you know , a pretty important organization serving San Diego County that has a history of , uh , of problems. Yeah.S2: Uh , you know , we all want to do that as as people , uh , on the other hand , uh , the individual accountability for the people that , uh , that made the decisions that led to this wrongful termination. They haven't paid any personal cost. Whatever. I mean , they lost their jobs. Uh , they've all left , uh , since then , uh , since 2024 , for various reasons. But , uh , Sandag has a new round of , uh , executive leadership , including a new director and , uh , senior officials. So , you know , hopefully they'll do better. Going forward , I think we hope that of all of our representatives. S1: All right. I've been speaking with Jeff McDonald. He's an investigative reporter with the watchdog team at the San Diego Union-Tribune. Jeff , thank you so much. I always appreciate you.S1: You , too. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.Lauren Warrem was a former finance official who raised questions about flaws in SANDAG's toll collection system. Now, SANDAG is being ordered toTrump administration lauds plastic surgeons' statement on trans surgery for minorsU.S. ski star Lindsey Vonn is in 'stable condition' after crash in Olympic downhill
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