GMR Partner Matthew Moroney and co-counsel Joseph Guzzardo led a trial team that won a $1.7 million jury verdict in New Jersey Federal Court following a nine-day trial. The plaintiffs were employees of the Housing Authority of the City of Camden (HACC) who claimed they were unlawfully terminated for reporting internal corruption. Former security director Gary Evangelista received just over $1.25 million in lost wages and emotional distress damages, while former housing specialist and union shop steward Kaberia Fussell was awarded $452,000.
Evangelista and Fussell sued the HACC, former Executive Director Victor Figueroa, and former Deputy Executive Director Kathryn Blackshear in 2020, alleging their First Amendment rights were violated when they were fired in 2018 for repeatedly reporting allegations of misconduct and corruption by a high-level HACC manager.
Evidence introduced at trial included:
- Reports of illegal housing favoritism, including the placement of ineligible tenants who had personal relationships with high-level HACC officials and were able to skip the waiting list for public housing;
- Allegations of theft of Housing Authority property;
- Claims of cover-ups of staff misconduct;
- Testimony that senior leadership pressured the former Executive Director to protect a politically connected manager rather than discipline him;
- Testimony from a former resident that HACC officials attempted to manufacture false statements to discredit the whistleblowers.
The jury found their firings to be pretextual and that the HACC, its former Executive Director, Victor D. Figueroa, and its former Deputy Executive Director, Kathryn Blackshear, retaliated against the plaintiffs in violation of their First Amendment rights for reporting the misconduct of another HACC employee.
This significant and just verdict underscores the ongoing importance of whistleblower protections in public agencies. It sends a strong message that retaliation against employees who report wrongdoing will not be tolerated.
