Opinion ID: 1312349
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Plaintiff's Conduct and Defendants' Alleged Adverse Actions[2]

Text: Plaintiff first complained about the Empire contract in early 2004. On March 24, 2004, he met with DWP manager Arnie Netka and a staff member from Councilperson Tony Cardenas's office to discuss the Empire contract. On April 20, 2004, plaintiff again met with Netka regarding Empire. That same day, plaintiff received an anonymous threatening phone call from Ralph Eshom, a DWP employee whose voice he recognized. On April 21, 2004, plaintiff and a number of other small business owners appeared before the City Council to complain about the Empire contract. On April 27, 2004, DWP issued a memo limiting the ability of vendors to interact directly and informally with the warehouse storekeepers. Instead, vendors would be required to make appointments with the senior storekeeper. In June 2004, DWP informed vendors that SPOs could not be used to split orders to avoid competitive bidding. [3] On May 6, 2004just fifteen days after appearing before the City Council-plaintiff received two threatening phone calls. At 11:33 a.m., a voice message was left on plaintiff's answering machine telling Marez you're f____d, you're really f____d. At 11:41 a.m. plaintiff received a message telling him Candy, leave it alone. Enough is enough. You're going to lose business. There is evidence that the phone call was made from Ralph Eshom's phone line at DWP. The next day plaintiff appeared before the City Council to complain about the threatened retaliation. In June 2004, he met with DWP employees, including defendant Netka, complaining about the difficulties he was having obtaining contracts. On July 7 plaintiff again appeared before the City Council claiming that DWP had retaliated against him for speaking out against the Empire contract. On June 17, 2004, DWP issued a bid for a tent called the E-Z Up 9000. Mary Beth Wilson, the DWP employee who managed the contract award process, testified that vendors were confused about what type of tent would satisfy the DWP specifications; over half of the bidders stated that the E-Z Up 9000 no longer existed and submitted offers containing alternative models. At the end of the bidding period, plaintiff's business, Montrose Supply, had submitted the lowest price, $106 per tent. DWP decided to reissue the offer-request, explaining that confusion among vendors had distorted the bidding process. However, in his deposition, plaintiff testified that DWP had previously knowingly issued offer-requests that contained confusing or erroneous information without cancelling the bid, and that, on various occasions when DWP had specifically requested the E-Z Up 9000 tent, it had accepted, from plaintiff and other suppliers, bids for alternative models. In this instance, following the reissuance of the offer-request, plaintiff claims that he again offered the lowest price but that the contract was awarded to CalOlympic Safety. In August 2004, plaintiff filed a formal grievance with DWP alleging that the tents provided by CalOlympic Safety did not comply with the specified fire safety standards. He also reported this information to the City Council, which then investigated the matter. On October 26, 2004, the City Council Energy & Commerce Committee questioned Netka about the tent bid, and he assured the Councilmembers that the tents delivered met the required fire safety standard. Plaintiff and a City Council legislative analyst subsequently inspected the tags of the tents and found that they were certified under a different fire safety standard. On November 9, 2004, the City Council held another meeting during which Council members confronted DWP about the tents. That same month, following the City Council's investigation, DWP rescinded the contract awarded to CalOlympic Safety and awarded it to plaintiff instead. Plaintiff also charges that DWP employees deliberately withheld information regarding bid opportunities and in some instances provided him with false information to prevent him from winning contracts. In early 2005, plaintiff emailed DWP employee Montenegro, first on February 18, complaining that he was not being given information for available bids, and then, on March 24, complaining that he was losing business. In June 2005, Corey Peterson, a DWP employee, asked plaintiff if they had broken him yet. When plaintiff asked Peterson what he meant, Peterson stated that plaintiff was not being awarded bids becauseonce shipping costs were factored inhe was no longer the lowest bidder. Plaintiff subsequently learned that other vendors were allowed to factor in their shipping costs before submitting their bids. On July 12 plaintiff appeared before the City Council to complain, as he had before, about retaliatory actions directed at him. On October 19 plaintiff once again informed the City Council about DWP retaliation. On January 10, 2006, plaintiff met with Montenegro and asked for reassurance that he would be listed as a vendor for certain items. On that day, DWP awarded a contract for silicone compound grease to Globe Pacific at a price of $6.92 per unit a contract about which plaintiff had specifically asked to be informed when it was available. Plaintiff alleges that, had he been aware of the contract, he would have bid $3.62 per unit and included a prompt-pay discount (the same price he had been charging for this product for the previous eight years). In February 2006, DWP issued an offer-request for drill parts for which it told plaintiff only American brands would be accepted. As a result, plaintiff did not bid on the contract, but ultimately the contract awarded was for imported drill bits. In March DWP failed to inform plaintiff about a new offer-request for tarps. Having learned of the offer-request from other sources, plaintiff submitted a bid, but it was rejected because plaintiff's brand of tarps was not listed. Yet plaintiff claims that he had been selling this same tarp to DWP for the previous five yearseven as recently as August 15, 2005. Finally, plaintiff offers a more general claim that DWP's reform of the procurement process targeted him and caused him to suffer a major decrease in revenue. Plaintiff claims that after he publicized his complaints regarding the Empire contract in the spring of 2004, his revenues declined significantly. Plaintiff's revenues were as follows: $284,668 in 2001, $394,298 in 2002, $512,870 in 2003, $332,784 in 2004, $383,013 in 2005, and $386,275 in 2006. The data provided by plaintiff show that from 2003 to 2004 his revenues decreased by $180,086 (more than 30%). In 2005, his revenue increased by $50,229. The following year his revenue also increased, this time by $3,262. DWP counters that their reforms led to an overall decrease in SPOs, affecting all vendors equally.