A Riverside city councilmember and a former councilmember are being sued by the city, which alleges they shared confidential information given to elected leaders behind closed doors.
The city of Riverside filed a lawsuit against sitting Councilmember Chuck Conder and ex-Councilmember Steve Adams on Tuesday, Feb. 14.
The suit â whose allegations are denied by an attorney for Conder and Adams â alleges that the two âdisclosed confidential informationâ to someone who is suing the city.
The city accuses Conder and Adams of sharing information they received during closed sessions discussing a lawsuit against Riverside by Tony Platt. The suit alleges they gave information to representatives of Platt, who is alleging breach of contract regarding a hangar lease at the Riverside Municipal Airport.
The stateâs Ralph M. Brown Act prevents participants in closed sessions from disclosing confidential information, the suit states. Riversideâs lawsuit alleges that, of nine closed sessions discussing the Platt lawsuit, Conder was present for eight and Adams took part in four.
Their attorney Rod Pacheco, a former Riverside County district attorney, denied the cityâs allegations.
âAdams and Conder have done nothing wrong,â said Pacheco, adding that itâs âshockingâ the city is pursuing the case.
Conder deferred comment to Pacheco; Adams could not be reached.
A Riverside statement issued by spokesperson Phil Pitchford said the âaction was taken to protect the rights of the City and its residents, to ensure the Cityâs right to due process, and to ensure the City receives a fair trial in the ongoing litigation.â
The city declined to comment further, according to the statement.
Conder and Adams are listed as witnesses in the Platt lawsuit. The cityâs lawsuit alleges that Plattâs representatives intend to use the pair in court to âdisclose confidential communicationâ to prove the city is liable in Plattâs case.
Riversideâs lawsuit also alleges that this isnât the first time Conder has âused or disclosedâ confidential information to âassist a party adverse to the city.â
In 2021, the council filed a Code of Ethics and Conduct complaint against Conder, alleging he revealed confidential information. The lawsuit alleges that, on Jan. 25, 2021, Conder signed a declaration supporting a lawsuit by Dunn Enterprises Inc. â which does business as the Icetown skating rink â against the city and other entities and that his declaration included information gathered during a Jan. 13, 2021, closed session.
The lawsuit alleges that Adams submitted a declaration in the Platt lawsuit that included confidential information, and that the cityâs objection to the declaration was upheld by the trial court.
Conder has been on Riverside City Council since June 2017. Adams was a councilmember from February 2004 to June 2015, and again from September 2017 to December 2019.
The city alleges that it âwill be under constant threatâ of Conder and Adams relaying confidential information to third parties. It asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent them from doing so.
Pacheco said that the city is being misled by its lawyers.
The city attorney is trying to intimidate Conder and Adams âfrom testifying truthfully,â he said, adding that the city attorneyâs office had raised the issue previously.
âThere have been leaks from the city council meetings,â Pacheco said. âThose leaks have come from the lawyers, ironically.â
Pacheco said that he believes the leaked information is coming from the city attorneyâs office based on two sources of information.
The first, he said, is âletters that were sent by the city attorneyâs office through the course of this litigation to various lawyers representing Mr. Platt,â containing information he said could only have come from closed sessions.
âEven more compelling,â Pacheco said, âis last Friday (Feb. 10), my client Chuck Conder got a text from a constituent.â The resident said he or she had âheardâ that Conder was being sued by the city, Pacheco said.