Doyle LLP Trial Lawyers vs. Southern Company

Whistleblower Retaliation Case

Doyle LLP Trial Lawyers has filed a Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower retaliation claim against Southern Company, who maliciously and unfairly retaliated against an employee that raised valid concerns about problems with their Kemper County, Mississippi power plant.

The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama and will be decided by a jury of Alabama citizens.

The suit alleges violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, and the common-law of Mississippi through the retaliatory actions displayed by Southern Company and its CEO, Thomas Fanning. Doyle LLP Trial Lawyer’s client, Brett Wingo, worked as an engineer for Southern Company and was heavily involved in the construction and preparation of the highly anticipated Kemper Coal Power Plant in Kemper, Mississippi. When the Kemper Project was approved in 2010, there was one basic requirement in order to secure federal tax incentives: a Commercial Operations Date by May 2014. Mr. Wingo recognized the many problems surrounding the Kemper Project and understood that a Commercial Operations Date of 2014 was untenable. Furthermore, Mr. Wingo discovered that Southern Company took concrete steps to hide the issues surrounding the Kemper Project’s scheduled commercial operations date

When Mr. Wingo became aware of Southern Company’s falsified schedule to support the Kemper Project’s unrealistic and unachievable Commercial Operations Date, he followed the chain of command and expected that Southern Company, including Thomas Fanning, would take responsibility for fixing the documented concerns. In response, however, Southern Company first attempted to push Mr. Wingo into willful blindness. When Mr. Wingo rightly continued to press concerns about the Kemper Project, Southern Company responded by terminating Mr. Wingo. Implicitly admitting the intended goal of suppressing his truthful reporting, Southern Company managers fired Mr. Wingo based on his supposed lack of trustworthiness in legally protected reporting to the U.S. Securities and exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Labor.
By terminating Mr. Wingo, the Southern Company violated the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, and Mississippi Public Policy, all intended to protect honest reporters of corporate misconduct. In this suit, Doyle LLP will seek damages for the economic and emotional harm Mr. Wingo experienced as a result of Southern Company’s unlawful conduct, as well as back pay and lost benefits.
Doyle LLP Trial Lawyers has a group of attorneys who have spent years representing employees who have been unfairly retaliated against by their employers. If your company has unfairly retaliated against you for reporting protected information, our team can determine whether you are entitled to compensation for your injuries.

For more information on Doyle LLP Trial Lawyer’s suit against Southern Company, please see the following news coverage:

Enterprise-Journal (McComb, MS) (Aug. 9):
http://www.enterprise-journal.com/editorial/article_33c0db7e-7d19-11e7-a947-b3654e2e79b8.html

Mississippi Today (Aug. 9):
https://mississippitoday.org/2017/08/10/kemper-whistleblower-sues-southern-co-for-retaliation/

Chattanooga Times Free Press / AP (Aug. 9):
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/business/aroundregion/story/2017/aug/09/business-briefs/442597/

New Jersey Herald / AP (Aug. 8):
http://www.njherald.com/article/20170808/AP/308089745

Hattiesburg (MS) American / AP (Aug. 8):
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/2017/08/08/kemper-co-power-plant-engineer-lawsuit/550319001/

Athens (GA) News Courier / AP (Aug. 8):
http://www.enewscourier.com/news/state_and_nation/fired-engineer-sues-saying-utility-retaliated-against-him/article_d8a106f4-7c7f-11e7-b8a7-1bff3eafc88c.html

Atlanta Business Chronicle (Aug 9):
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2017/08/09/southern-co-engineer-who-criticized-kemper-plant.html
* Full text is below.

Washington Examiner (Aug. 9):
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/clean-coal-utility-giant-sued-over-claims-it-misled-investors/article/2631027

Columbus (MS) Dispatch / AP (Aug. 9):
http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=59876

WVTM-ABC 13 (Birmingham, AL) / AP (Aug. 9):
http://www.wvtm13.com/article/fired-engineer-sues-saying-utility-retaliated-against-him/11658117

Tuscaloosa News / AP (Aug. 8):
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/news/20170808/fired-engineer-sues-saying-utility-retaliated-against-him