The Long Beach City College agreed Wednesday to pay $2.7 million to its former superintendent-president who claims she was wrongfully fired after filing a whistleblower complaint against members of the LBCC Board of Trustees.
The board voted 4-0 to approve the settlement, with board president Uduak-Joe Ntuk recused and absent due to being named as a defendant.
The long-running, fiercely litigated case cost the college more than $1 million in legal fees, pitted trustees against each other and garnered significant public attention that made it difficult for LBCC’s former leader, Reagan Romali, to find employment, according to her lawyer, Louis Cohen.
“The settlement means vindication,” he said, adding that Romali hopes to return to the presidency of another college.
Cohen said that to his knowledge, it is the largest single-plaintiff settlement LBCC has ever paid in an employment case.
The protracted dispute began years ago when Romali was publicly named as a whistleblower on March 2, 2020 and fired two days later.
In 2021, she filed a claim against the college seeking $10 million in damages. She alleged that after reporting two trustees — Uduak-Joe Ntuk and Vivian Malauulu — to the Long Beach Police Department for alleged public corruption, the two trustees convinced the board to “launch a retaliatory investigation against Dr. Romali, which culminated in the termination of her employment,” according to the complaint.
Romali further alleged the college and trustees had defamed and blackballed her, harming her ability to secure future employment.
Malauulu was dismissed from the lawsuit, according to court documents, and both Ntuk and Malauulu have previously denied wrongdoing.
Lawyers for the college, however, wrote in a court document that concerns about Romali’s employment had arisen well before it learned of her whistleblower complaint. The board initiated an evaluation of her performance, which “confirmed concerns regarding Plaintiff’s performance, ethics, and ability to work collaboratively,” according to a motion filed by the college’s lawyers.
The motion, dated Sept. 11, emphasized the resources the college had already expended: extensive discovery and motion practice, 12 depositions and more than $1 million in legal fees. Continuing litigation could result in another $1 million in legal fees, the lawyers wrote.
The settlement requires Romali to dismiss the case and remaining defendants with prejudice, closing the case permanently and preventing Romali from refiling. The settlement also releases the claims against Ntuk. He declined to comment on the settlement.
Stacey Toda, a spokesperson for LBCC, acknowledged the settlement resolution and declined to comment further.