SACRAMENTO – An attorney alleges she was terminated by a county office in retaliation for exercising her protected rights.
Elizabeth Bales filed a complaint on June 13 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California against the county of El Dorado, the county's Chief Public Defender Teri Monterosso and Does 1-50 alleging retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination and retaliation.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff was hired by as a deputy public defender II of the Office of the Public Defender of El Dorado County in November 2016. The suit states in March 2017, she was interviewed by an investigator regarding gender discrimination complaints by a peer and again in May 2017 regarding retaliation complaints.
The plaintiff alleges on June 21, 2017, she reported a client's complaints of El Dorado County employees allegedly engaging in sexual misconduct against female prisoners and was terminated the same day.
The plaintiff holds County of El Dorado responsible because the defendant allegedly retaliated against her for exercising her protected rights.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment and relief against defendant for special and economic damages, general and non-economic damages, punitive damages, interest, injunctive relief, costs of suit, attorney's fees, expert costs, and further relief as the court may deem just.
She is represented by Joseph M. Lovretovich and Mythily Sivarajah of JML Law in Woodland Hills and Alan Reinach and Jonathan Cherne of Church State Council in Westlake Village.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California case number 2:18-cv-01714