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Whistleblower suit tossed on technicality By Chris Bristol On a hypertechnical technicality, a Jackson County judge has thrown out part of a lawsuit that alleges Medford airport managers retaliated against a secretary whose complaints sparked a state ethics investigation. Judge Phil Arnold ruled Tuesday that Dawn Neff�s whistleblower lawsuit was filed a day too late and missed the one-year statute of limitations because Oregon case law defines a "year" as 365 days � and 2000 was a leap year. Neff�s lawyer, Michael Mattingly, said his client is considering an appeal. "Judge Arnold did say that he disagreed with that opinion as a matter of principle but felt bound by it anyway," Mattingly said Thursday. "That�s just the way it goes, unfortunately." The ruling did not entirely gut Neff�s case. She also sued for wrongful discharge and violation of her civil rights, and those claims are pending. A trial date has not been set. In her lawsuit, Neff claims airport Director Bern Case and Assistant Director Craig Baldwin retaliated against her for taking complaints about management to the county, which owns and operates the airport. Her complaints triggered an internal county audit, which criticized Case and Baldwin for a "pattern of poor judgments" that included sloppy timekeeping and the use of staff for personal projects. The audit, in turn, triggered a state ethics investigation. The Government Standards and Practices Commission eventually fined Case $500, concluding he used his position to promote his wife�s business and sent maintenance employees to his home for repairs. In her lawsuit, Neff alleges a variety of retaliatory conduct. She claims Case and Baldwin searched through her desk and read her personal mail, falsely accused her of planting bugs (listening devices) in airport offices and instructed other employees not to socialize with her. She also alleges they accused her of ordering personal mail-order merchandise via airport and county accounts � an accusation that was investigated but found groundless by the ethics commission. According to briefs filed by the county�s attorneys, Oregon law requires that a whistleblower lawsuit "shall be commenced within one year" from the date that a worker was fired illegally or forced to quit because of management hostility. Neff quit her job at the airport on Aug. 4, 1999. The lawsuit was filed one calendar year later � Aug. 4, 2000 � but was late because leap year adds a day. The county�s lawyers cited at least two cases defining the duration of a year as it pertains to the statute of limitations. "A year is 365 days," the county�s lawyers argued, citing a 1990 decision by the Oregon Court of Appeals. They also cited a similar ruling in 1993 in a federal court case in Portland. Ryan Vanderhoof, a Medford attorney whose firm was hired by the county to litigate the case, said he was precluded from discussing it without permission from county Counsel Mike Jewett, who could not be reached for comment Thursday. Mattingly said that even though he was disappointed with the ruling, the remaining claims � particularly the claim that Neff�s free speech rights were violated � are similar to the whistleblower complaint. "By and large, there are more similarities than differences between the two," he said. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.