FIRED SDG&E WHISTLEBLOWER WINS $1.3 MILLION IN PUNITIVE DAMAGES

March 2014 Articles

March 28, 2014 (San Diego)--A jury has awarded $1.3 million in punitive damages to David Bryant, a former billing supervisor at SDG&E. Bryant claimed the company fired him after he complained that SDG&E was targeting delinquency notices to low-income ratepayers, so that SDG&E could make money from late payment fees.

Bryant also won more than $860,000 in compensation, in addition to the punitive damages award.

According to Bryant, SDG&E ordered employees to hand deliver delinquency notices to inner-city homes starting in 2008- and the company assessed a $9 charge to ratepayers for this action.

SDG&E was found guilty of wrongful termination and retaliating against Bryant for speaking out.

The company issued a statement indicated it plans to appeal the verdict.

SDG&E says its investigation found Bryant was terminated due to “extremely inappropriate conduct for a supervisor” and for violating company policy.

Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.