March 10, 2022rhaugh2154

Former City Attorney Brian Doyle Files Intent to Sue Papers for Wrongful Termination

By Robert Haugh

Former Santa Clara City Attorney Brian Doyle recently filed the legal paperwork to start his lawsuit against the City.

Doyle believes he has a claim against the City for “wrongful termination, breach of contract, retaliatory discharge in violation of Cal. Lab. Code Section 1102.5, retaliatory discharge in violation of Cal. Gov. Code section 12940(h), Intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation and negligence.”

Doyle was fired by the 49er Five in August, 2021 without cause. 

The City is still without a City Attorney. According to attorneys in other cities, Santa Clara will have trouble finding one because of what happened to Doyle.

Doyle’s attorney, Chris Boscia, said Doyle’s legal team is “conducting a thorough investigation.”

From the witness list, it looks like it.

As possible witnesses, the paperwork lists the members of the City Council:

  • Lisa Gillmor,
  • Suds Jain,
  • Raj Chahal,
  • Anthony Becker,
  • Kevin Park,
  • Karen Hardy, and
  • Kathy Watanabe

It also lists some City staff:

  • Deanna Santana,
  • Sue Rueter,
  • Caio Arellano,
  • Elizabeth Klotz, and
  • Alexander Abbe

Interestingly, on the witness list are 49ers executives:

  • John Edward “Jed” York,
  • Rahul Chandhok, and
  • Al Guido

Jain publicly stated last year that the 49ers “would like to see Brian Doyle gone.”

The City is required to respond to the filing within 45 days. Who knows if Santa Clara will have a City Attorney by then.

7 comments

  3. Gotta love #6 – Name of city employee who allegedly caused injury or loss: Suds Jain, Raj Chahal, Karen Hardy, Anthony Becker and Kevin Park.

    Shudda just written the 49er 5….go get ‘em Brian! SANTA CLARANS WANT THEM GONE!

    Reply

  4. Doyle likely has an extremely good case for the retaliation claims since that was transparent, and just like Batra has an iron clad one for breach of contract. Wrongful termination is a possibility. IIED is a non-starter, especially as a joined claim, as are defamation and negligence.

    Reply

  6. I’m extremely upset that five Council members were so short-sighted when terminating our legal counsel. Unfortunately, we have five Council members that work for the 49ers.

    Reply

    • Frank…
      Rut Row….It may seem short-sighted to you, but you have to remember just how low their collective I.Q. really is.
      Remember They have a check list. From their perspective, they were just doing what they were told to do.
      Kinda like the old
      Ready, Fire, Aim story…. how did that work out by the way?

      So at a time when Santa Clara could really use the money, we constantly have two major issues everyday staring us in the face.
      1. Jed York. The man who was born on third base, and believes he hit a triple.
      2. The 49er 5 council members.

      Think November…
      Santa Clara Residents have had enough.

      Burt Field.

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