Ex-prosecutor gets $2M in whistleblower case

A jury has awarded $2 million to a former San Francisco prosecutor who claimed she was fired for investigating city corruption.

The San Francisco Chronicle says jurors found Friday that the city violated California’s Whistleblower Protection Act and False Claims Act when it fired Joanne Hoeper three years ago.

A spokesman for the city attorney’s office calls the verdict disappointing.

Hoeper’s lawsuit claimed she was fired for looking into reports that staffers in the city attorney’s office received kickbacks in exchange for directing $10 million in public funds to plumbing companies for unnecessary sewer repairs.

Her 2012 report found no pattern of corruption but she argued the investigation was stopped before it could be completed.

However, the city attorney halted the sewer payment program.