Water Agency Appeals Order to Pay Bias Suit Fee

CALABASAS —  A water agency has appealed a court order that it pay $470,000 to attorneys for an employee who won a discrimination lawsuit against the district and $40,000 in damages.

The appeal is by the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District.

Last year Jonathan Vo was awarded $40,000 after a Los Angeles County jury found the water district had failed to prevent discrimination and permitted a hostile work environment where Vo was the victim of racial slurs. In January, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Harvey A. Schneider ordered Las Virgenes to pay Vo’s lawyers $470,000, more than 10 times the amount of the jury’s verdict.

“We believe that is more than ought to be awarded to an attorney,” because part of Vo’s accusations against the water district were not upheld by the jury and Vo’s settlement award was so low, said Jim Colbaugh, general manager of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District.

In his decision, however, Schneider wrote that the large attorney fee is justified because of the water district’s “complete failure to offer any amount in settlement,” forcing more litigation.

“I’ve been mystified by each of their rejections. What astounded me was that they never made a counteroffer,” said Lee R. Feldman, Vo’s attorney. Vo, a waste water treatment plant operator who is Vietnamese, filed his suit against Las Virgenes in 1996. The water district rejected an early offer to settle Vo’s suit for $75,000, Feldman said.

In 1997 the water district filed a suit against Vo, alleging the discrimination accusations were unfounded and requesting it be allowed to open its own investigation into the charges. A year later a judge threw out the suit, calling it “frivolous” and forcing the water district to pay Vo $5,000.

Colbaugh said the district’s harassment and discrimination problems are behind it. Discrimination complaints were resolved in 1995 when adequate training was implemented and employees were disciplined or fired, he said.

“It’s a more cohesive work force,” Colbaugh said. “We have not had any complaints since then.” Colbaugh insisted the district received “no reasonable settlement offer” from Vo.