Two former high-ranking city officials have filed separate wrongful termination lawsuits against Stockton that include claims of contract violations, sex discrimination, whistleblower retaliation and fraud.
The city of Stockton was served with summonses Monday in two lawsuits brought by its former Deputy City Managers Chad Reed and Courtney Christy.
In separate court filings, Reed and Christy claim they faced unlawful treatment in the months leading up to their respective departures from City Hall earlier this year. Both are seeking compensation for a variety of damages related to their Stockton employment, including loss of wages and benefits.
When asked about the employment lawsuits late Friday, Stockton Public Information Officer Tony Manor told Stocktonia the city was unable to comment on active or potential litigation.
The city has been given 30 days to respond to the lawsuits.
Stockton officials confirmed in January that longtime employees Reed and Christy were no longer employed with the city. However, no further details on why their employment had concluded or the circumstances of their departures were provided publicly at the time, neither by the city nor Reed and Christy.
Since last year, the city has seen an exodus of employees, including the departures of City Attorneys Lori Asuncion and her successor Marci Arredondo this year alone. And the lawsuits being brought by Reed and Christy are just the latest saga in a city plagued seemingly with one controversy after another since the newest City Council took their seats nearly two years ago.
Though the two former deputy city managers are being represented by the same Woodbridge-based law firm, their cases were filed separately and level varying accounts and accusations at the city regarding their Stockton employment.
In court documents filed earlier this month with the San Joaquin County Superior Court, both Reed and Christy claim their departures from the city took place on or around Jan. 20. Christy says she was fired, while Reed does not describe how his employment with the city ended, only that there had been a breach of contract after the city had fraudulently induced him to accept a promotion rather than pursue employment elsewhere.
Both lawsuits are listed as wrongful termination cases, while Reed’s is also filed under breach of contract/warranty.
Reed and Christy have directed their lawsuits not only at the city but potentially also individual officials. The city of Stockton is the only named defendant in court filings for both lawsuits, but Christy and Reed leave open the possibility for adding on any individuals who are found to be responsible for any wrongdoing related to the cases.
Mayor Christina Fugazi and former interim City Manager Steve Colangelo are the only other Stockton officials named in descriptions of the events leading to the former deputy city managers suing their former employer, though they have not been named as defendants.
Fugazi did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment late Friday afternoon.
Stocktonia has been unable to contact Colangelo since his departure from the city last August.
Christy’s lawsuit: She was ‘viewed as an obstacle’
Christy joined the city in 2017 as a program specialist before advancing through administrative and management roles over the years, including a promotion to deputy city manager in 2021.
She now serves as assistant city manager for Nevada City, where Stockton’s former economic director, Carrie Wright, is the city manager. Wright left the city of Stockton in April of last year.
According to court documents, Christy’s attorneys lay out a litany of claims against the city of Stockton and mostly unnamed city officials, including sex-based discrimination by top management and escalating retaliation over her cooperation with local and state agency investigations.
Christy is suing for damages, lost wages and benefits, future economic losses, emotional distress, labor code waiting-time penalties, unpaid accrued vacation wages and other expenses related to bringing the lawsuit.
Christy claims that in the course of her regular duties as a Stockton deputy city manager she “became aware of numerous practices and decisions that she reasonably believed violated California law, municipal regulations, public contracting requirements, transparency laws, fiduciary obligations owed to taxpayers, and established procurement procedures.”
Her concerns were repeatedly made known to city leadership, including city management, legal counsel and elected officials, Christy claims.
She also reported the issues to “governmental agencies capable of investigating the allegations,” including the state Attorney General’s Office, and eventually served as the city’s point person regarding the investigative audit being conducted into the city’s finances by the California state controller.
In January, the State Controller’s Office began an audit of Stockton’s internal controllers for conducting its operations from a two-year period beginning in January 2023 to the end of December 2025.
The audit’s results have not yet been released, but it aims to determine if the existing policies and procedures designed to safeguard public funds in Stockton city government are working to ensure accurate financial reporting and to prevent/detect errors and fraud.
In return, Christy allegedly faced increasing retaliation from some city officials.
At one point, Christy claims Mayor Fugazi referred to her as a “barefoot mole” and accused the former deputy city manager of “undermining the administration.”
The lawsuit specifically highlights alleged irregularities Christy found in the procurement process and contracting practices surrounding several agreements made by the city last year, including obtaining consulting services from an outside city manager by Stockton’s then interim city manager, Steve Colangelo.
In May 2025, a Stocktonia investigation revealed that Colangelo, just days after having been appointed as Stockton’s interim city manager earlier that year, had without City Council approval or guidance hired Lathrop City Manager Steve Salvatore as a consultant for $11,000-a-month to help him do his job. Colangelo’s salary was already set at more than $20,000 per month.
It was later revealed that the money to pay Salvatore had been allocated from DEI funds in the city manager’s office budget.
Much of Stocktonia’s reporting on the irregularities of Salvatore’s contract and hiring were based on city emails obtained through a public records request where Christy expressed apprehension and disapproval of the process used to contract the consulting services from the Lathrop city manager.
Christy reportedly communicated her concerns to city leadership and refused to endorse or support the approval of Salvatore’s contract, according to court records.
“[Her] opposition later became publicly known through disclosure of City records, generating public scrutiny and media attention,” the lawsuit claims. “Following such disclosures, retaliatory conduct directed toward [Christy] intensified.”
Due to what she described as “significant emotional and physical symptoms requiring medical treatment,” Christy was put on medical leave in April of last year. Upon her return to work, Christy says she continued to “report financial irregularities, procurement concerns, budgetary issues, and compliance deficiencies.”
Christy also “provided information, testimony, and assistance” to the recent San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury’s investigation into turmoil and dysfunction in Stockton governance.
Christy was fired one week after providing testimony to the civil grand jury and one week before a scheduled meeting with state controller representatives regarding its ongoing investigative audit, according to the lawsuit.
The city provided her with no other reason for Christy’s termination other than the city “was going in a different direction,” her lawyers say.
The city knew she had been cooperating with local and state investigating agencies, Christy claims.
In the lead up to her firing, Christy claims she was excluded from communications and decision-making processes necessary to perform her duties, core responsibilities for her position were reassigned to those with less experience and fewer qualifications, and faced repeated criticism, disparagement and an undermining of her credibility.
“[Christy] became aware that she was viewed as an obstacle to individuals seeking to advance contracts, funding decisions, and administrative actions that she had questions or opposed,” the lawsuit says. There were also attempts “to manufacture performance-related concerns and create a pretextual basis for adverse employment action.”
Reed’s lawsuit: ‘Fraudulent inducement’ led him to take the job
According to his LinkedIn profile, Reed had served in various roles with the city in the last decade, including as director of public works from February 2024 until June of last year, when he was promoted to deputy city manager. Before that, he spent three years as deputy director of public works and four years as fleet operations manager, totaling nine years with the city.
He now serves as the public works director for nearby Modesto.
In 2025, Reed held multiple high-level assignments with the city of Stockton during a period when several executive positions at City Hall were vacant or filled on an interim basis. At one point, Reed had been simultaneously serving as a deputy city manager, public works director and acting chief financial officer for Stockton while the city continued recruitment for permanent department heads.
Reed accepted the promotion to Stockton deputy city manager “to his detriment,” his attorneys say in his lawsuit’s complaint.
The former Stockton deputy city manager has accused the city of breaching formally-written, as well as implied, contract agreements and breaking promises he relied upon to make employment decisions. Reed is suing the city for loss of pay, benefits and the value of up to 150 hours of accrued vacation wages he claims to be owed, as well as other expenses related to the lawsuit, including his attorney fees.
Reed is also seeking punitive damages from those responsible for knowingly-false promises made on behalf of the city meant to convince him to accept the deputy city manager position, an act known as “fraudulent inducement,” rather than seeking employment elsewhere.
During alleged discussions regarding his potential promotion to deputy city manager, Reed claims the city, through its authorized representative, then-interim City Manager Steve Colangelo, made false promises regarding Reed’s compensation, responsibilities, support, staffing and administrative resources should he accept the promotion to deputy city manager.
Reed includes as evidence an email exchange from May of last year with Colangelo and Fugazi, where he and the former interim city manager detail various agreed upon employment conditions and confirm the appointment. Fugazi is not shown to have responded to Reed’s and Colangelo’s emails, but appears to have been included in the exchange and directly referred to by Reed.
In his email, Colangelo describes Reed’s “decision to stay on and embrace this new role” as a win for Stockton. Reed’s response to Colangelo is addressed to the former interim city manager as well as the mayor.
“I want to thank you both for the time you spent with me today and answering all questions,” Reed says in an emailed response to Colangelo. “Your confidence and trust in my leadership abilities means a lot to me!”
However, in court documents Reed claims that when promises were made those responsible knew they were false and had no intention of following through on them.
Reed also claims to have foregone other executive employment opportunities, including a position with the city of Tracy, based on what he was promised by one or more city officials, whom Reed also says knew he was considering jobs outside the city.
“The representations were made with actual fraud, malice, and intent to deceive (Reed) to induce him to accept the appointment and remain with the City,” Reed’s attorneys say in court documents.
After accepting the deputy city manager position, Reed also alleges he “was assigned substantial executive-level responsibilities beyond those represented and was not provided the promised support structure, staffing resources, or compensations,” according to court documents.
“The City did not provide the promised administrative support and employment conditions,” Reed’s lawyers say.
“As a direct and proximate result of Defendant’s conduct, (Reed) has suffered substantial economic damages, lost employment opportunities, professional harm, and other damages according to proof.”
Both lawsuits are set for case management conferences March 17, 2027.