by Amy Davis
Daily Cougar StaffAfter all the hoopla surrounding University of Houston's $650,000 settlement with former UH assistant football coach Steve Staggs, confusion set in for former UH Physical Plant employee Dana King.
King, who claims he was unlawfully terminated by the university after he reported corruption by Physical Plant management six years ago, wonders why his case has lingered in the courts for so many years, while the Staggs case was settled in a reasonably short time.
"It's no longer about dollars," said King, who sued UH employees Robert Scott, Herbert Collier, Thomas Wray and Paul Postel in a federal court suit in 1990. "We can't afford not to let people know about this. They (UH) need to address what they've done and move on."
King was fired in 1990 while he was home recovering from a torn ligament in his shoulder he claimed he suffered in a fall while working on a maintenance job in UH's Fleming Building.
Court documents reveal that UH disputed King's claim that he was "injured on the job" because he failed to complete a standard UH accident report after his alleged fall.
King, however, believes he actually was fired for exposing theft by management personnel in the Physical Plant, for exposing the existence of asbestos in Hofheinz Pavilion and for exposing what he calls a "violation of basic human rights of employees."
During the beginning stages of King's dismissal hearings, and later during the first court proceedings, King claimed that as a result of his "whistleblowing," he and his family were the victims of numerous home burglaries, threats and arson.
He also alleges he was asked by two of his superiors to "get rid of" Manny Molina, a co-worker who was also off work from a work-related injury and was receiving workers' compensation.
King said Robert Scott, the foreman of mechanical maintenance at the time of King's firing, took the witness stand and admitted asking King to "get rid of Manny Molina" in order to prove that he (King) was a "team player."
King said Paul Postel, then manager of the Physical Plant, also admitted approaching him regarding "getting rid" of Molina.
However, King added that the two men later defended themselves by saying "it was all a joke."
"I have a hard time dealing with a mentality like this," King said.
In 1991, a Harris County District Court jury found UH liable for "gross occupational harassment" leveled at King.
The jury also ruled that Postel and Scott "intentionally inflicted emotional distress on (King)" and that their acts "were taken with malice or willfulness or callous and reckless indifference to the rights of (King)."
In his suit, King asked for $1 million in damages, but in 1992, U.S. Federal Magistrate Calvin Botley, ignoring the jury's decision, awarded King just $2. Even after Scott's and Postel's confession, the Texas Attorney General informed King that the UH employees would not be charged with any crime because the federal court only had authority in civil cases.
"I thought I knew a lot about law, but what I don't understand is how UH blatantly violates every type of law imaginable and no one looks into anything," King said. "Steve (Staggs) had a suit, don't get me wrong. But it seems as if they paid this guy because he got his feelings stepped on a little bit." King believes his case has received little attention because the local newspapers and television news programs have not covered his story.
He said The Daily Cougar is the only media outlet to run a story about his case since it first began when he was fired in 1990.
He said the attention given his complaints seems skimpy when compared to the coverage allotted to the Staggs settlement.
"Who has kept it quiet?" asked King.
Richard Nix, supervisor of carpenters and an employee of the UH Physical Plant for 24 years, said nearly all the people involved in King's case are no longer affiliated with the university. Four of the men retired soon after the case began, and Herbert Collier, the director of the Physical Plant, transferred to the University of Texas at Galveston.
All of the UHPD officers involved in the investigation are also no longer with the department.
Nix said he remembers that UHPD interviewed and took dispositions from almost everyone at the Physical Plant.
"We were all watching the parade to see who was going to be called out next," he said. "The investigation looked like something that would be far-reaching, and suddenly it stopped. You see all the smoke and think that surely there must be a fire. We never got a real explanation of what happened."
Nix also said a UHPD officer told him, "We can't talk about it, even though it is never going anyplace."
Despite all of the signs that the investigation was dropped, UHPD Chief George Hess said there was a conclusion.
"I've been here 18 years and in all of our cases, we do a lot of investigating. It came to a conclusion, I just don't remember what that conclusion was," Hess said.
King said one of his co-workers at the Physical Plant, Bascillio Martinez, kept track of his work hours for him as a witness when King believed he was being cheated out of pay, but Martinez refused to discuss anything about the case.
A similar response was received from Tom Wray, the current director of the Physical Plant. Even though he said he has not been instructed not to discuss the issue, Wray said he would prefer not to make any comment.
King's analysis of the different treatment of his case and Staggs' lies in the fact that "UH cares about their Athletics Department. They don't give a nip about human life.
"I'm glad Steve won, but it seems like when it comes to the Athletics Department, they jump in and cleared that up immediately," King said. "The growth factor for dollars in the Athletics Department is outrageous. They don't want anything to stymie that growth." Nix agrees that the differences in the two cases is based on their positions at UH.
"King was in probably the lowest level (entry-level) position at UH -- a journeyman craftsman. Compared to a sports coach, that's not that interesting," Nix said.
However, UH System attorney Amy Castaneda, who has been on the case since 1994, said the cases were "two totally separate causes of action."
"The district court dismissed King's whistleblower claim," Castaneda said.
The Staggs case was in the early stages of jury selection when attorneys for UH and Staggs settled the case out of court.
King, who has not been able to find employment since he was fired from UH, recalls an old motto he said was held by Postel and Scott. " `Play the game, or be a shame.' The saddest part of it all is that if I would've helped them, I'd still be at UH, and probably a foreman.
"I've stood in this thing alone," King said. "No one has stood up for me because UH has everyone so in fear, unknowing what could happen to them."