Abruptly Retired County Lawyer to Get Big Payout

The top county lawyer who abruptly retired last week after a hastily scheduled performance review appears likely to receive at least a $535,000 payout from the county next month. 

Documents released to Voice of San Diego after a records request show former County Counsel Claudia Silva signed a deal last Wednesday calling for her to receive a lump sum equivalent to 18 months of her nearly $363,000 annual salary next month when her paid leave expires Aug. 22.  

Per the deal, the county will deduct more than $9,000 from that lump sum for her share of county-backed insurance coverage it has pledged to continue to provide Silva for 18 months. Silva will also receive separate payouts for unused vacation time and potentially, half of the value of unused sick time that she could instead opt to direct toward her county pension. 

In exchange for those terms, Silva agreed to clear the county of liability tied to her sudden departure or other issues.  

Silva’s separation agreement comes with more lucrative terms than the contract she signed when she was appointed the county’s top lawyer in 2022. The 2022 agreement, also obtained by Voice after a records request, called for Silva to receive at least 12 months of her annual salary if she was terminated. 

Silva could not be reached for comment on Thursday. 

When asked why the county opted to offer Silva a larger payout than her contract described, county spokesperson Tammy Glenn said it was a “confidential personnel matter.” 

Glenn also noted in an email that the county is grateful for Silva’s nearly nine years at the county and wishes her the best. 

“We wish her all the best on this well-earned next chapter,” Glenn wrote. 

Most supervisors, including Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer who called the last-minute performance review last Wednesday, did not return requests for comment Thursday. 

Supervisor Joel Anderson declined to comment on the closed-door meeting last week, but said he was disappointed to see Silva leave county service. 

“Claudia’s departure was a huge blow to my constituents,” Anderson wrote in a statement. 

The closed-session review of Silva’s performance came a day after the swearing-in of South Bay Supervisor Paloma Aguirre, which instituted a Democratic majority on the county Board of Supervisors.  

Silva’s departure comes as the county faces a lawsuit from former county executive Michael Vu, who claims Lawson-Remer stymied his pursuit of the county’s top bureaucratic post through what Vu’s attorney described as an “illegal backroom deal” also involving Aguirre’s now-Chief of Staff Paul Worlie.  

Silva has been caught up in the scandal since Voice broke the news on Vu’s allegations. 

Vu’s attorney Chip Edleson said that his team recently told the county they wanted to take Silva’s deposition before others. Vu’s team were focused on Silva due to an email that then-county chief administrative officer Helen Robbins-Meyer sent the now-former county counsel about the arrangement Lawson-Remer allegedly proposed. The county argues the email is protected by attorney-client privilege and news outlet La Prensa San Diego published the email last week. Edleson said his team did not share the email with the news outlet. They thought the email – and thus, sworn testimony from Silva – could be crucial to their case. 

“We believed this would properly present the question of whether the key email from the former CAO was a notice of improper and illegal conduct, a complaint, and therefore not a privileged attorney/client communication, or was a request for legal advice and services,” Edleson wrote in an email. 

As county counsel, Silva also oversaw the county’s response to a series of lawsuits over deaths in county jails, including one where the county this week appears likely to be sanctioned by a federal judge for failing to preserve key surveillance footage tied to a 2022 in-custody death. 

Now Silva, who received a positive review and a 7 percent raise last December, is out. 

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