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Jury awards $4.75 mill to former county employee The Associated Press PHOENIX - A former Maricopa County employee has been awarded $4.75 million in what his attorney believes is the state's first court judgment under Arizona's whistle-blower protection law. Michael Walters, an environmental analyst, was fired in 1996 after discovering that county administrators used fictional liability figures in reports submitted to bond underwriters and others. The lawsuit he filed alleged that he was fired after informing the county's chief financial officer of the mistake and threatening exposure unless the mistake was corrected. Grant Woods, an attorney for Walters, said jurors deliberated three hours before awarding damages for lost and future wages, defamation and suffering. "The truth came out," Walters said. "After nine years of sleepless nights, I'm going to get my first good night's sleep." The two-week trial was conducted before Yavapai County Judge David Mackey in Prescott because Maricopa County superior courts would have a conflict of interest hearing a suit involving a county employee. The Arizona Employment Protection Act was adopted in 1996 to protect whistle-blowers. Woods, a former Arizona attorney general, said he believes Walters is the first plaintiff to win a jury award under that law. "This is a guy who stood up and did the right thing," Woods said. About the time Walters was fired, Phoenix newspapers made public-records requests for the chief financial officer's e-mails. The electronic messages described efforts to oust Walters as an employee, Woods said, along with other damaging communications that caused the chief financial officer to resign. County officials listed other reasons for Walters' termination, including an allegation that pornography was discovered in his computer. Woods said the county eventually abandoned that claim. Al Macias, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said supervisors had no comment because they weren't aware of the verdict. Officials have said in the past, however, that the county's insurance has a $5 million deductible.
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