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Slapped w $1M civil suit alleging fraud

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$1M_sister

Guest
What is the name of your state? california

my sis is being sued in civil court for $1M by former employer. they are requesting a jury trial. they are alleging fraud saying she stole 3M lbs of oil (equiv to 9 rail tanker cars of food oil) and that she personally profited.

her job was to track shipments and inventory in huge on-site tanks. the tank gauges were grossly miscalibrated (for ex. an empty tank would read 250K lbs). she told her supervisor about the problem and he didn't care and didn't do anything to fix the gauges. instead, she made adjustments to the month-end numbers to compensate for the miscalibrated gauges. there was never any loss to the company.

she quit her job in disgust after a few years. in addition, her supervisor had become increasingly verbally abusive. when she went to HR with her complaint, they did nothing.

after she left, the auditors called her about the inventory discrepancies. she explained the problem with the gauges. months go by and then last night she gets sued for $1M.

she needs an attorney in southern california. but what type of attorney handles this? can she sue the company for harrassment and to recover her legal fees? how much is this going to cost her to defend herself?
 


HomeGuru

Senior Member
$1M_sister said:
What is the name of your state? california

my sis is being sued in civil court for $1M by former employer. they are requesting a jury trial. they are alleging fraud saying she stole 3M lbs of oil (equiv to 9 rail tanker cars of food oil) and that she personally profited.

her job was to track shipments and inventory in huge on-site tanks. the tank gauges were grossly miscalibrated (for ex. an empty tank would read 250K lbs). she told her supervisor about the problem and he didn't care and didn't do anything to fix the gauges. instead, she made adjustments to the month-end numbers to compensate for the miscalibrated gauges. there was never any loss to the company.

she quit her job in disgust after a few years. in addition, her supervisor had become increasingly verbally abusive. when she went to HR with her complaint, they did nothing.

after she left, the auditors called her about the inventory discrepancies. she explained the problem with the gauges. months go by and then last night she gets sued for $1M.

she needs an attorney in southern california. but what type of attorney handles this? can she sue the company for harrassment and to recover her legal fees? how much is this going to cost her to defend herself?
**A: well oil be damned if we don't hear the other side of the story.
 
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Pfaffing85690

Guest
Please tell me her name isn't Olive :eek:

and by the way, it's a civil litigation attorney.
 

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE

Senior Member
My response:

This is all a bunch of bullsh*t!

Of course your sister misdirected the shipments and pocketed the money!

Do you really believe that a large corporation is going to sue your sister if they didn't "have the goods on her"?

Yeah, right - - the "guages were off" - - only on HER shift!

IAAL
 

AmosMoses

Member
At first glance I would have to say that it would well seem that what IAAL says is true...it is hard to believe that a large corporation's sales department would sue your sister specifically alleging that she personally profited from this inventory discrepancy. Now, on the other hand, I worked for a Fortune 500 chemical company in their R&D facility for 8 years, and I never ONCE knew of a situation where an engineer was able to work forward doing material balance sheets and make 'em work out right . . . ever. It simply never adds up straight from flowmeter, load cell, etc., calculations, and they all have to pencil whip it to some degree. They all "work backward"..all of them. I have seen downright fraud perpetuated where reportable chemical calculations were concerned, as a CYA measure. So, I for one have no problem whatsoever believing that these discrepancies would have existed in an R&D situation, and that your sister could easily have worked backward to "fix them". Now, one thing I can NOT say that I am familiar with is if this is SOP in sales ops, and I would think that it would not be....I would believe that it would be somewhat different to say the least. In R&D work, this is common practice to keep from having to report losses of hazardous and consent order chemicals to DEQ and EPA from venting, spills, non-compliant disposal and "cutting to the ditch" real nasty stuff that rearranges the DNA of all us human animals....that is not "Good Corporate Neighbor Policy", a facade that a big company will spare nothing to perpetuate.

Now, here's the kicker...I have no idea how many checks and balances are in the system of the case in point, and I can well see your sister getting the shaft from the company IF there is a sitaution where they have a conflict with a customer and are being accused of shortchanging on product. BUT, if the company wants to allege that your sister personally profited from this, they better damned well have proof of same. If she did, it's over...she's popped...there is NO WAY at all to hide this paper trail. I mean absolutely, positively, NO WAY SHAPE NOR FORM. PERIOD! But, if she merely pencil whipped material balances that caused the someone some loss, I would believe that she is in a better position, especially if she has any documentation that she brought this to the attention of management. I cannot stress enough that if your sister personally profited from this, there is NO WAY that the company does not know. I do find it strange as hell that in a sales op a manager would tolerate any tank car tare weight to be off, a VERY EASY thing to fix, much less a 250K # one. But, stranger things have happened.

So, if I were your sister I would very closely examine what my EXACT involvement is in this matter and I would TELL THAT TO MY LAWYER EXACTLY!! I would say that she could be sued anyway for "innocent" losses, but if she profited personally she could well be held criminally liable. I am not guessing either one way or the other as to what happened, and I know I am not answering your question, but I do think that she needs to keep in mind that she needs to inform her lawyer of EVERYTHING here. Best of luck.
 
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$1M_sister

Guest
Thanks

Thank you for your replies. I gave my sister information to log on to this site. She may want to answer/clarify some of your questions herself.

By the way, if she'd personally profited from anything, she'd 1) have continued in her job and/or 2) we'd be posting from our laptops sitting on a beach in Tahiti (instead of the crappy "Inland Empire").

Also, if they actually had proof that she stole something valued at $1M, wouldn't they have charged her with a crime?
 

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE

Senior Member
Re: Thanks

$1M_sister said:
Also, if they actually had proof that she stole something valued at $1M, wouldn't they have charged her with a crime?

=========================================


My response:

The DA may charge her later. For all anybody knows, the DA could have told the company, "Get us the smoking gun, and we'll charge her with Grand Theft."

IAAL
 

AmosMoses

Member
Actually, I was never much for assurances such as "By the way, if she'd personally profited from anything, she'd 1) have continued in her job and/or 2) we'd be posting from our laptops sitting on a beach in Tahiti (instead of the crappy "Inland Empire")." Nothing for nothing, but I put that right up there with "you can ask my momma!!" , which will be the position of anyone who is concerned with potentially prosecuting this matter, too. What I mean is that I am neither believing nor disbelieving your sister at this point, and I really haven't thought about it one way or the other. What I am saying is that your sister needs to keep this in mind when she speaks with counsel. Good luck to you.
 

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