St. Louis Medic Awarded $50,000 Over Retaliation for Grievance

May 10--ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis jury has awarded a city paramedic $50,000 on her claim that her boss, the chief of the city ambulance service, retaliated against her after she filed a grievance.

Laticha Green, 42, of St. Louis, sued the city and Steven Kotraba in 2014, alleging race discrimination and retaliation for filing a grievance against him. Green is black. Kotraba is white.

Green, who has worked for the city fire department since 2007, alleged that after she was promoted to paramedic in 2012, Kotraba added five months to Green's six-month probationary period but didn't do the same for two white paramedics, one of whom is Kotraba's niece.

Green claimed that after she filed a grievance in August 2013 alleging discrimination, Kotraba was "loud and verbally aggressive" toward her in a meeting and threatened to discipline her for insubordination.

In court records, Kotraba and the city denied Green's allegations.

After a trial last week in St. Louis Circuit Court, the jury Friday sided with the city and Kotraba on the claim of race discrimination but awarded Green $50,000 for her retaliation claim.

Kotraba could not be reached for comment. Nancy Emmel, who represented the city and Kotraba in the suit, also could not be reached.

Green was represented by lawyers Jerome Dobson and Brian Love.

Joel Currier --314-340-8256

@joelcurrier on Twitter

jcurrier@post-dispatch.com

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