Hatoff's suit seeks $24M in damages

By: PHILIP K. IRELAND - Staff Writer | Tuesday, August 21, 2007 12:03 AM PDT ∞

OCEANSIDE -- An ousted MiraCosta College administrator is suing the public college for $24 million, saying officials violated state labor laws when they fired her and accused her of failing to supervise workers and cooperate with an investigation into the illegal sale of palm trees.

The administrator, Julie Hatoff, filed the suit in May, alleging breach of contract, negligence, extortion, harassment and labor law violations. The lawsuit names the college, former President Victoria Munoz Richart, all seven members of MiraCosta's governing board and former trustee Henry Holloway.

A scandal erupted at the college in December 2005 when a whistleblower alleged that officials in the horticulture department were raising and selling palm trees for personal profit. The ensuing 17-month probe led authorities to charge one school employee, Alleen Texeira, with a single count of theft. A handful of other employees, including Hatoff, were disciplined or resigned.

A copy of the suit obtained by the North County Times last week shows Hatoff is seeking $14 million in general and special damages, as well as punitive damages of $5 million from Richart, and $1 million each from the board members who supported Richart -- board president Charles Adams and trustees Carolyn Batiste, Rudy Fernandez, Gregory Post and Holloway.

Hatoff's attorney, Tracy Warren, said Monday that her client would not comment on the lawsuit.

Jim Downs, a spokesman for Taxpayers Saving MiraCosta --- a group that has backed Richart and the board majority -- said the lawsuit is a waste of money and has little or no chance of prevailing.

Jonathan Cole, president of the Academic Senate and a supporter of Hatoff, said he was not comfortable offering opinions about the monetary details of Hatoff's suit.

A 36-year employee of MiraCosta College, Hatoff oversaw all educational programs as the top instructional administrator. She was one of several employees investigated by the college's private attorney during the palm-tree probe.

Hatoff was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in the internal college inquiry; a separate investigation by the San Diego County district attorney's office also found no evidence of illegal activity by Hatoff.

College officials, however, accused Hatoff of failing to properly supervise employees and refusing to cooperate in the investigation. She was placed on administrative leave as vice president of instruction in August 2006 and dismissed from the post in June 2007.

Hatoff drew pay for her $200,000 cabinet-level job throughout her leave. She is still on the college payroll as a tenured professor of English on leave, college officials said.

In her 39-page lawsuit, Hatoff claims that Richart had "no credible evidence that Hatoff played any part in the palm tree incident, yet for over one year Richart led an entire college community to believe otherwise."

Richart abused her position to "satisfy her own personal agenda, which included forcibly and inexplicably ousting" Hatoff due to personal friction between the two women that arose after Richart took the reins of MiraCosta in summer 2004, the suit states.

The five trustees who are being sued for more than $1 million each are part of a board majority that supported Richart throughout her tenure at the college. In her suit, Hatoff said the trustees "blindly obeyed the self-serving mandates" of Richart, who negotiated a $1.5 million buyout of her contract in late June.

In regard to Hatoff's lawsuit, several legal maneuvers are in the works, including a motion by Hatoff attorney Tracy Warren to disqualify the law firm representing MiraCosta College. The motion to bar the firm, Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff and Holtz, is scheduled to be heard Friday.

Adams, the board president, on Monday offered his full support for the work of Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff and Holtz, saying the firm has served the district well.

On Aug. 31, a hearing is also set on a motion by college attorneys to dismiss Hatoff's case. On the same day, the attorney representing Richart will ask the court to dismiss the case against his client as a nuisance suit.

-- Contact Philip K. Ireland at (760) 901-4043 or on-line at pireland@nctimes.com.