Former Central Basin Municipal Water District Interim General Manager Chuck Fuentes. Photo via internet.
A Hews Media Group-Community Newspaper EXCLUSIVE!
By Brian Hews and Brian Hews
Former Central Basin Municipal Water District Chief Operating Officer Chuck Fuentes has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against the embattled agency, and included its current President James Roybal, Hews Media Group-Community News can confirm.
Fuentes is charging that Roybal, acting on behalf of the agency, violated the terms and conditions of a written agreement he had with the district back in June of 2013.
Roybal leaked personal and confidential information regarding Fuentes settlement agreement to the Whittier Daily News and reporter Mike Sprague.
HMG-CN can also confirm that Roybal must ask the district to defend him and that a Board vote is required.
Lat year, Fuentes settled with JPIA for $50,000. Sources said that Roybal was “very angry” and subsequently leaked the settlement to the WDN in retaliation.
When JPIA, the insurance carrier for CBMWD, found out that Roybal leaked the settlement, they threatened to drop CBMWD as a client.
Sources tell HMG-CN that JPIA will not defend Roybal and that he and CBMWD will have to retain their own attorney and pay the settlement.
“This was an idiotic action by Roybal,” said one high-level source inside CBMWD, “Roybal’s leaking of the settlement agreement made JPIA very angry. So instead of having JPIA handle and settle the lawsuit, Roybal has exposed himself and CBMWD to a more damaging and potentially costlier lawsuit.
Attorney Silva Berejian filed the lawsuit with the Glendale law firm of Kirakosian & Associates.
Berejian said that Roybal and Central Basin Municipal Water District gave confidential information to Sprague and “revived the dispute in the media, disclosed the amount of the compromise and settlement, and instead elected to repudiate the agreement and to disparage and discredit Fuentes.”
The complaint also states that “Defendant James Roybal acting both individually and in his capacity as President of the District, made several statements to the Sprague concerning Plaintiff and the parties’ agreement,” to deliberately discredit Fuentes.
In the article, Fuentes is charging that Roybal “materially breached the Settlement Agreement” and that the statements made by Roybal were the source of an article published by the Whittier Daily News on or about June 4, 2013.
“Based on reviewing the article published, Plaintiff (Fuentes) alleges that Defendants divulged the amount of the Settlement Agreement in direct contravention of the parties confidentially agreement, and made statements to the newspaper to the effect that Plaintiff was fired in January from his position as interim chief executive.”
According to the lawsuit, statements made by Roybal, “the deal sets a bad precedent; and further stated that “we never broke any part of his contract,” and “to reward him when we didn’t break the contract seems like a gift of public funds.”
The lawsuit claims that the statements by Roybal in the Whittier Daily News article, “materially breached the Settlement Agreement which prohibited Defendants from divulging the amount of the settlement.”
The lawsuit also claims that Roybal acted “in an abusive and malicious manner for several reasons, including to retaliate against Plaintiff (Fuentes) and to reignite a controversy over whether the Defendants had “fired” Plaintiff, as opposed to released him from his employment agreement according to its terms.”
Fuentes alleges “the very reason for the Settlement Agreement and Release was to fully and finally resolve the dispute between the parties, to avoid adverse publicity by keeping the agreement confidential and to ensure that the parties would put things behind them.”
Attorney Berejian told HMG-CN in a telephone interview on Thursday afternoon that Fuentes has “dedicated the last 40 years of his life serving the people of Southeast Los Angeles County as a true public servant.”
“People like Chuck Fuentes don’t deserve to be treated like this. Mr. Fuentes is a force for positive change and will continue to dedicate his life for the betterment for this entire region,” Berejian said.
Berejian said that Central Basin Water District officials have 30 days to respond to the lawsuit, and confirmed that Roybal was “personally handed the lawsuit by Process Servers” at the Commerce headquarters of the besieged public agency.
“There has been a pattern on behalf of Mr. Roybal to divulge personal and confidential information about employees like Chuck Fuentes and others during the past year, especially to members of the media. We are confident that our lawsuit will be successful,” Berejian concluded.
A complete copy of the lawsuit will be published at www.loscerritosnews.net.
Royball is everything WRONG with political cronyism, both in the limelight and especially with obscure fiefdoms like the Water Board. Fat Cat Political Bosses like Royball and the Calderons need to be RUN OUT OF TOWN!
I’m rooting for Fuentes!
That’s what I’m talking about. Sue that drunken clown and strip him of his beer money. Hit him where it hurts!
Roybal is a disaster and an absolute laughing stock. Every time he comes in the office every one just shakes their heads in disgust trying to comprehend how it ever got this bad. To think that that fat cow Leticia Vasquez and that pervert Bob Apodaca gave that drunk the presidency is a testament to how retarded the whole bunch are!
I hope Mr. Fuentes takes Roybal for everything he’s worth, his cars, his house, the kegs of beer in his fridge! The District Attorney already concurred that Roybal violated the Fuentes confidentiality agreement so this case is a done deal. I only pray that Roybal doesn’t get three votes to hire a lawyer to represent him on the District’s dime. After the way he screwed over his buddy Bob Apodaca by not supporting sending his revolting sexual harassment case to the company’s insurance carrier, pervert Bob would be crazy to throw the Dictator a bone now.
Roybal has this coming and a lot more! Good luck Mr. Fuentes and let’s do lunch after you win:-))
Good for Mr. Chuck Fuentes.
Your “DIRTY WATER” series is getting dirtier by the minute. Time for the voters & ratepayers to speak up and get rid of the three dirt bags!
Sorry but this suit is a loser. Can’t prevent a public agency from releasing the settlement agreement for public consumption.
How about Brown Act?
Both the Brown Act and the Public Records Act mandate the release of the settlement agreement. It is a public record that must be released.
Roybal may have some issues with making statements prevented in the agreement, however releasing the agreement to the public is an acceptable course of action.
Unless all parties agree to have the settlement “sealed”, then it is not public record.
What is wrong with this nut Roybal? He knows that his job is on the line at LA Unified which is why his ass is locked up in teacher’s jail with all the other perverts and degenerates yet he keeps looking for more trouble. I remember the earlier story that ran here in the Cerritos News about the District Attorney finding Roybal guilty of violating the terms of Fuentes’ confidentiality agreement, so I don’t know what Gilman here is talking about.
Roiybal is a misfit who never should have been elected. The guy uses two stupid tricks to get elected; a teacher and his Roybal name, and foolish voters fall for it. If you ever heard this loudmouth know-it-all drunk, you’d never vote for him. That’s why he lost his election to the El Ranchoi School Board.
Take him for a ride Chuckie!
Another day at Central Basin, another disgrace. Of course the District Attorney “punted” on this issue and as I recall, Central Basin’s former Ethics Committee refered Roybal’s abuse to the Los Angeles Civil Granb Jury. So what happened? Nothing of course.
So once again our water bills go to pay yet another Central Basin f-up??? Nothing against Fuentes, this is all on that turd Roybal. Why is he still President of the board?? Why doesn’t he get delegated to odd man out since he’s such a lame tool?
I can’t stand that place anymore. I’m drilling my own well!