OnPoint expert Christine Davis recently provided trial testimony in a wrongful termination and defamation case filed against a nonprofit entity, namely The Roman Catholic Bishop of Santa Rosa (Diocese of Santa Rosa). The case involved a claim by the plaintiff, who was in charge of accounting and financial reporting for one of the parish churches in the Diocese, that she was wrongfully terminated after 28 years of service as retaliation for expressing concerns to her superiors regarding certain decisions and managerial conduct by her immediate supervisor, also a defendant in this case.
Ms. Davis, a forensic accountant and the Director of Forensic & Financial Accounting at OnPoint Analytics, testified as the accounting and damages expert on behalf of the defendants. Applying her forensic and financial accounting expertise, she presented detailed evidence of certain material errors in the plaintiff’s accounting work for the parish church. These errors included the complete absence of accounting and financial reporting for numerous and recurring transactions that occurred for several years as evidenced by the cash flows reflected in a church bank account. Ms. Davis also quantified numerous income tax fines and penalties assessed on the parish church resulting from failure by the plaintiff to timely file certain employer tax returns and deposit the correct amount of certain payroll taxes when due.
The Superior Court judge for Sonoma County awarded judgment for the Diocese on each of plaintiff’s claims. The Diocese of Santa Rosa was represented by Adrienne Moran of Shapiro, Galvin, Shapiro and Moran.