Judge Rules Against Mayor, Finds Merit in Simonian Suit

In the ongoing legal battle between Yorba Linda’s two top officials, a judge ruled Thursday that longtime City Manager Arthur C. Simonian’s invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against Mayor John M. Gullixson has merit.

Gullixson, an attorney, had asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the dispute has put Simonian’s personal affairs in the public arena. But Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas N. Thrasher Sr. said Simonian had reason to sue because Gullixson released documents containing the city manager’s Social Security number, which was subsequently published in a community newspaper.

Gullixson made public several documents in December, including a confidential report on Simonian’s conduct and depositions of city employees’ statements against him, but Thrasher said his real concern was the release of Simonian’s W-2 forms for 1994 through 1998.

“A person’s Social Security number must be protected,” he said. “It’s just like credit card numbers. . . . There have been cases of stolen identity. You have to consider that.”

Simonian, city manager since 1972, was ousted by the City Council on Sept. 7 amid allegations of financial malfeasance. A Superior Court judge reinstated him in November, saying he was improperly dismissed. Simonian, who has denied any wrongdoing, is now on paid administrative leave and is suing to get his job back.

The city, meanwhile, is suing Simonian to recover $300,000 in bonuses he is alleged to have paid himself without council authorization.

Gullixson, who has led the effort to oust Simonian, said he is not to blame for the Yorba Linda Star’s publication in December of Simonian’s Social Security number in a photograph of one of the W-2 forms.

“I didn’t publish it,” Gullixson said. “I only supplied the press with the documents because Simonian is a public official involved in a public issue: misconduct. People have the right to know what he did.”

Gullixson said he will appeal Thrasher’s decision.

“None of this is privileged information,” he said. “My attorney and I were successful in pulling Mr. Simonian’s Social Security number off the Internet. It’s that easy to get it.”

Councilman Mark Schwing, a Simonian supporter, submitted an affidavit to the court stating that the council never authorized release of the W-2 forms.

“Those documents shouldn’t have been released,” he said. “It was wrong. And it was not a council decision.”