Former state worker seeks $7.2 million in fees after $8.3 million verdict

A former state worker who won more than $8 million from a state agency last year is seeking over $7.2 million in attorney fees. In a request filed with the court, Lawrance A. Bohm argued the state drove up fees by throwing "unlimited resources" at the case for more than a decade despite repeated offers to settle.

The parties were set for a hearing in federal court in Sacramento on Thursday but stipulated to continue it until Dec. 4. In an email on Thursday afternoon, Bohm said the defense had requested more time. Evans v. California Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training, 2:15-cv-01951-DJC-SCR (E.D. Cal., filed Sept. 15, 2015).

A year ago, Tamara Evans won an $8.7 million jury verdict against the commission, later reduced to $8.3 million. She alleged retaliation tied to her 2013 firing. State attorneys said Evans was terminated for her behavior, including an incident with a rental-car agent.

Bohm persuaded the jury that Evans was a whistleblower who uncovered financial irregularities at the police-training agency. In an impassioned closing, he called the state's narrative "gaslighting," adding that if it were true, "we never would have gotten this far."

Now an expensive case for the state could get even costlier.

"The primary intent of the California Whistleblower Protection Act is to ensure that state employees are free to report waste, fraud, abuse of authority, violations of law, or threats to public health 'without fear of retribution.'... To ensure the critical public policies underlying the CWPA are adequately vindicated, the CWPA directly provides for recovery of statutory attorneys' fees and enhanced litigation costs," Bohm wrote in last month's memorandum.

He argued that the time expended, and hourly rates are reasonable and that a 2.0 multiplier is warranted because the case was handled on contingency against state attorneys who caused unreasonable delay. The state also repeatedly refused to settle for a reasonable sum, he wrote.

"This case is a textbook example of why reasonable awards of reasonable attorneys' fees are necessary to protect whistleblowers like Ms. Evans," Bohm added. "After violating Ms. Evans' rights, POST aggressively litigated this case at every turn for nearly 11 years."

Bohm and his firm have become frequent opponents of the state in personnel matters. In May, he sued the California Department of Water Resources on behalf of an openly gay employee who says he suffered retaliation, sexual orientation discrimination and wrongful termination after filing a whistleblower complaint. Swain v. California Department of Water Resources, 25CV012726 (Sac. Super. Ct., filed May 29, 2025).

The firm is also approaching a Sept. 29 trial date in another long-running case. Clinical psychologist Beth Fischgrund alleges the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation mishandled escalating inmate threats against her and then retaliated when she complained. Fischgrund v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 34-2020-00281411-CU-OE-GDS (Sac. Super. Ct., filed July 1, 2020).