Former Csulb Asi Media Adviser Gets a Retrial on Retaliation Lawsuit After Representing Himself

LONG BEACH, Calif. - July 25, 2016 - PRLog -- A long-term employee of associated students at California State University Long Beach who sued the University in 2012 and lost after a six day trial is getting a second chance at justice. The Second District Appellate, Division 4 unanimously decided that John Trapper was not given a fair trial. The final disposition was reversed, and remanded for liability and damages.

Trapper, who was with the University for 12 years claims that he was targeted for termination after he spoke out at a public meeting regarding the treatment of long term/older workers at Associated Students. The case centers around Dave Edwards, the Associate Executive Director and Richard Haller the Executive Director. After Trapper made his comments at an open meeting of the Human Resources Committee, Edwards filed a harassment complaint against Trapper. Associated students hired two separate investigators who both completed lengthy reports neither of which revealed any egregious behavior on the part of Trapper. Associated Students admitted at trial that those publicly protected comments were the reason for his termination.

According to Executive Director Richard Haller, the Associated Students, whose revenue comes entirely from student activity fees, is self-insured. This works via a group called AORMA (Auxiliary Organizations Risk Management Alliance Committee) which is comprised of a sampling of representatives from many of the Auxiliaries on CSU campuses across the state, pooling student funds to make up an insurance pool. Beyond that, there is additional insurance and a Third Party Administrator who make the decisions on how a case is litigated within the Auxiliary system at CSU.

Trapper fought hard against the ASI's Attorney Nancy Doumanian who is known for scorched earth tactics and has made news defending public entities: See extensive article:

www.callawyer.com/2015/10/burbank-unified-school-district-lawsuit/

According to Trapper, Doumanian never engaged in any reasonable settlement discussions and he estimates Doumanian has been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight him. He also states that he has made two reasonable settlement offers in writing that he will eventually publish to demonstrate the continued waste of Student Fees.

Trapper says he is just anxious to get his day in Court. "They spent the whole trial attacking my credibility and I want to set the record straight ...It's been very painful knowing my former friends and colleagues could participate in such a contentious litigation… now we are ready for their tactics and look forward to ensuring that the Court not allow the Shenanigans prevalent in the first trial". No trial date has been set as of this release.