A Los Angeles Superior Court judge set a trial date of July 6 for a former Manhattan Beach city employee’s lawsuit against the city for alleged abuse she suffered under former City Manager David Carmany.
Patricia Schilling claims that Carmany’s retaliation after she reported his questionable behavior caused her such stress that she developed a heart condition. She is suing him for punishing and firing her for reporting and refusing to engage in suspected illegal activity and the city for not protecting her from his harassment and sex-based discrimination. She seeks damages including loss of earnings and earning capacity, permanent injunctive relief to stop the illegal practices, attorneys’ fees and costs of suit.
Schilling began working for Carmany’s predecessor, Geoff Dolan, in 2006. According to the complaint she filed, she “regularly received positive feedback and praise in her annual evaluations and received annual raises” during this time.
Dolan left his position in December 2009 when an anonymous letter sent to the city accused him of sexual harassment during a staff retreat the month before. Carmany was hired to replace him in January 2011.
In the first four months that she worked for Carmany, Schilling says that she saw him engage in unethical behavior and that he instructed her to do the same. In one instance, she says she saw him tear up an anonymous complaint about him and remark that if Dolan had done the same, he would still have his job. He instructed her to destroy all anonymous letters going forward.
On two other occasions, she says he lied to the city council about the use of city funds, such as when he used $60,000 to pay an outside contractor when the council had explicitly stated that he should not do so.
When an attorney was hired in May 2011 for staff to air grievances, she shared her concerns. Carmany soon began retaliating, she says.
“On a number of occasions, Carmany approached Ms. Schilling and stood silently for minutes only inches behind her while she sat behind her desk,” read the complaint. “At times, Ms. Schilling felt Carmany glancing down her shirt while standing behind her.”
On another occasion, Carmany sent her an email while he was on vacation “berating” her for not showing him a letter which she says she copied him on. According to the lawsuit, “Ms. Schilling was transported to the hospital because she had felt her heart beat rapidly” after she read the email. That night, she was diagnosed with a stress-related heart condition which got worse over the course of the following year.
“Due to the continued stress that Ms. Schilling continued to work under on a daily basis her heart condition continued to deteriorate and on November 9, 2012 was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation,” read the complaint.
After being officially reprimanded, demoted and investigated, Schilling was fired by Carmany in April 2013. In his letter, he cited the statements she made during her administrative investigation as a “substantial consideration in terminating your employment.”
The city council voted 5-0 to fire Carmany on Nov. 4, 2013. He was terminated without cause.
According to the complaint, Schilling claims that the city and its employees “knew or should have known of the individual Defendant’s harassment of Plaintiff, yet failed to take appropriate and timely corrective and preventative action in that regard.”
During the case management hearing on Sep. 24 at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, the lawyers for the two parties said they would attempt private mediation. When Judge Teresa Sanchez-Gordon asked how likely it would be for the parties to settle, Schilling’s lawyer, David deRubertis, answered, “Tough to know,” but said that the lawyers had a “good relationship in the past.”
