Veteran news anchor Sandra Maas sued KUSI nearly five years ago in a milestone pay-equity case. Fourteen months ago, after a four-week trial, a San Diego jury ordered her former employer to pay Maas $1.78 million.
On May 3, Maas and her attorney Josh Gruenberg finally got their money. It took the form of a Bank of America check for $4,621,626.29, which included $2.38 million for the journalist’s legal team.
But their celebration is muted.
KUSI has appealed the outcome and Gruenberg thinks his team deserves $4 million (after applying a “multiplier” of 1.45). So he’s also petitioned the state’s 4th District Court of Appeal.
In fact, the $4.6 million check came from the Judicial Council of California on behalf of downtown Superior Court and not from KUSI’s new owners, Nexstar Media Group of Texas. (It was signed by staff accountant Mark Lewis.)
KUSI, a right-leaning independent station long owned by San Diego-based McKinnon Broadcasting, had deposited $6.33 million in a court trust account pending various rulings.
“We believe we have a significant chance of receiving a multiplier from the Court of Appeal,” Gruenberg said Tuesday.
He says KUSI’s chances of winning a reversal of the jury verdict in Judge Ronald Frazier’s court, and clawing back its payout, are “nil.”
The First Avenue-based attorney added: “We believe there’s a 99% chance that we’re going to be able to hold on to the money and recover more.”
KUSI attorney Ken Fitzgerald didn’t respond to a request for comment.
For her part, Maas is glad the wheels of justice are still moving, “albeit very slowly.”
“Five years is a big chunk of time to be fighting a court battle,” she said via email. “I’m grateful to everyone in San Diego who supported me during this hard won victory. And I will forever champion equal pay for equal work. It’s a cause I passionately believe in.”
As of Wednesday, Maas hadn’t yet deposited her share of the $4.6 million check.
“But when I do, it will live in a safe place and continue to collect interest for the next year or so until we win the appeal,” she said. “Attorney Jon Williams is my appellate lawyer who will be taking us over the finish line.”
Her plans for the money?
“No plans, but some of my favorite San Diego nonprofits — the Women’s Museum of California (I’m board president) and the San Diego History Center (I’m a board of trustee) — will benefit from this win,” Maas said.
In an order dated April 18, Judge Frazier disappointed both sides.
KUSI saw its money flow out of the court account. And Frazier disallowed Gruenberg’s 1.45 multiplier request. The judge also halted the accrual of interest on the money owed.
Maas’ defense team says it’s put in 4,088 hours of work since 2019, with hourly rates ranging from Gruenberg’s $800 (for 802 hours’ work) to paralegal Blanca Villegas’ $250 (for 318 hours).
“We were happy to receive the money,” Gruenberg said in a phone interview. “Both Sandra and I are able to pay the money back if by chance, God forbid, the [KUSI] appeal is successful, which we don’t think it will be.”
He said the money was released despite the ongoing appeals because “they know that Sandra is not going anywhere and they know that I’m not going anywhere and, you know, they could recover their money from us.”
Gruenberg says multipliers are commonly applied by other California courts in civil cases involving contingency deals — where the plaintiff doesn’t pay their lawyer until after winning a risky or novel case.
“They’re rarely granted in San Diego,” he said. “For some reason, our judiciary down here has been reluctant to award a multiplier.”
Gruenberg says he received a 1.3 multiplier several years ago, but only after the appellate court instructed the San Diego trial judge to award it.
Colleagues in his firm earn a salary, paid every two weeks, so they haven’t had to wait on a pay day, however.
But no matter what the final payout, Gruenberg vows to reward the eight other staff members involved in the case, including trial lawyers Josh Pang and Pam Vallero.
“I believe I’m a fair boss when it comes to bonuses,” he said.
Maas will have expenses, too.
Asked if she has to pay taxes on the KUSI money, she replied: “Yes, I do. There’s no escaping Uncle Sam.”