Anne Anderson, principal engineer of Anderson Structural Engineering, in Vancouver, Washington, has won a lawsuit against the Clark County Community Development Department.

A Clark County Superior Court jury on Nov. 3 awarded Anderson $150,000 for defamation, $100,000 for discrimination and $1,100 for tortious interference. Marty Snell, Community Development director, said that no decision has been made whether to appeal the verdict.

The civil damages stemmed from accusations of gender bias and department staffers acting in ways that demeaned Anderson’s work and affected her practice financially. At trial, testimony revealed that the department altered her work without her knowledge and applied standards above state and international residential codes. Those violations led to a greater award.

“It was disappointing,” Snell said. “Some of the treatment was completely unacceptable. We need to treat our customers with respect and conduct ourselves professionally.”

Anderson works largely on single-family home projects in southwestern Washington and northern Oregon.

“They would want me to do the engineering to meet the IBC (International Building Code) for a commercial building,” she said. “They wanted these homes held to a higher standard.”

Anderson’s work met the International Residential Code, she said. It’s the standard regularly applied to residential structures in Washington and Oregon; however, it wasn’t good enough for the county, she said.

More training is needed as to when to apply the stricter building code, Snell said. It can be applied if elements of a structure warrant greater scrutiny, he added.

“There were expert witnesses on some of the building codes,” he said. “It was a mixed bag. The county was more in the right on one issue. Maybe there was a call that could have gone either way.”

One reason why the dispute ended up in court, according to Anderson, was a lack of communication.

“They wouldn’t work with me,” she said. “The only way I could be heard was through the courts.”

A series of emails were introduced that indicated the harassment of Anderson was considered sport. The county claimed that its nondiscrimination policy did not apply to internal communications even if the statements were derogatory and defamatory toward a single individual.

“Some of the email exchanges were less than professional,” Snell said.

Written and in-person communication with lawyers spanning more than five years failed to resolve the dispute, Anderson said. The case proceeded through the judicial process for more than two years.

“We had a very strong case,” she said. “I would love it if there were some changes in leadership.”

Changes are in the works, Snell said.

“The first thing that I mentioned on Tuesday morning with building staff was when we are working with people, just be professional,” he said. “There will be some things changing. It’s hard to say how quickly that will happen.”

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