The attorney who represented San Diego Port Commissioner Sandy Naranjo during her recent board censure is suing the local government agency, alleging that the port retaliated against him for statements he made about the agency’s assistant general counsel during a public board meeting.
Earlier this week, attorneys representing Cory Briggs of Briggs Law Corporation filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California under Section 1983 of Title 42. The federal statute allows people to sue local government agencies for violating their civil rights.
Briggs is seeking damages of an unspecified amount for the port’s decision to “investigate” him, an action intended to silence him, the suit states. Briggs did not respond to a request to comment.
“Defendants’ retaliatory conduct as alleged in this pleading violated and continues to violate, among other things, plaintiff’s right of free expression, right of association, and right to criticize the government and government officials,” the suit states.
Port of San Diego Chairman Frank Urtasun said in a statement that the lawsuit has no merit.
“The port will assertively defend its position through the court process,” he said. “The port has a legal obligation to investigate personnel matters and will proceed as required.”
The civil suit is an outgrowth of the tense, Oct. 10 Port of San Diego board meeting where Commissioner Naranjo was unanimously censured by her peers for misconduct. The commissioner falsely accused the agency’s top lawyer, Tom Russell, of being corrupt and tried to get him fired for looking into her external financial dealings, according to a personnel investigation conducted by an outside law firm.
At the specially convened censure meeting, Briggs addressed the board on behalf of his client, Naranjo, and read aloud a letter from her ex-husband, Andrew McKercher. In the letter, McKercher claims the port’s assistant general counsel, Rebecca Harrington, told him that she, “hates Sandy” and that, “Sandy is going down.”
Later, Harrington lodged a formal complaint with the port against Briggs, according to emails included in the lawsuit. The agency hired an outside firm to conduct a confidential workplace investigation into the matter.
State law — Government Code Section 12940(k) — requires employers to prevent workplace harassment and discrimination. As such, employers have a duty to investigate such claims, according to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
On Feb. 1, outside port counsel Karen Carrera with Carrera Workplace Solutions emailed Briggs to schedule a Zoom meeting to discuss whether the attorney made “false statements” about Harrington, the emails show. The lawyers engaged in an email exchange, but its unclear if Briggs met with Carrera. The port’s workplace investigation is ongoing, a representative for the agency said.
The Briggs suit claims that the port’s decision to “investigate” him amounts to retaliation.
“The port has no legal authority to ‘investigate’ plaintiff,” the suit states. “The decision was intended to retaliate against plaintiff by, among other things, (i) requiring him to divert his attention from compensable work for his clients in order to participate in the ‘investigation,’ (ii) forcing him to retain legal counsel to defend himself in the ‘investigation,’ (iii) bringing him into disrepute in the community, and (iv) providing a subterfuge for taking other future punitive measures against plaintiff — all of which have serve to chill plaintiff’s exercise of his federal and state constitutional and other civil rights.”
The lawsuit comes as the port is trying to turn the corner from the turmoil surrounding Naranjo’s censure, an unprecedented action that stirred up public animus between the agency and the commissioner’s most ardent supporters. The ensuing drama may have also played a role in former Port Commissioner Rafael Castellanos’ decision to resign from the board earlier this year.
The federal case, No. 3:24-cv-00239-DMS-VET, is assigned to U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw and U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie Torres. The lawsuit was first shared by La Prensa on X, formerly known as Twitter.
