Case of Hanford Whistleblower Tamosaitis Wrongly Dismissed, Court Says

Hanford whistleblower Walt Tamosaitis will return to federal court after the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Friday that his case against URS, the primary subcontractor at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, was wrongly dismissed. The 9th Circuit also found that he is entitled to a jury trial, contrary to a June 2012 ruling by U.S. Judge Lonny Suko in Eastern Washington District U.S. Court. Tamosaitis’ attorney, Jack Sheridan, said he expects the case to be heard by a jury in 2015. This is the first time that a court of appeals has confirmed that whistleblowers under the Energy Reorganization Act are entitled to a trial by jury, Sheridan said.

The lawsuit will continue with only URS, Tamosatisis’ former employer, as a defendant after the 9th Circuit also ruled that the dismissal of the Department of Energy from the lawsuit was appropriate. DOE had not been added to Tamosaitis’ complaint filed with the Department of Labor for the required one year before Tamosaitis filed in federal court, the 9th Circuit ruled. The Department of Labor filing also was amended to change the defendant from “URS Inc.” to “URS Energy and Construction,” but the intent of the filing was clear and that should not have been grounds for dismissing the case on summary judgment in federal court, the 9th Circuit found. The 9th Circuit also questioned the case’s dismissal on the grounds that Tamosaitis’ career had not been harmed and that URS had not been responsible for any possible retaliation. URS has strongly denied that it retaliated against Tamosaitis.