A version of this story was originally published in Inland Empire Law Weekly.
Riverside Superior Judge Daniel Ottolia denied the Gage Canal Company's (Gage Canal) petition for a workplace restraining order against Riverside whistleblower Jason Hunter on Aug. 29.
The decision itself does not change much for the company majority-owned by the city of Riverside, but it may open up discussions between Hunter and the company's board of directors.
The company obtained the temporary workplace restraining order against Hunter on March 27. Four staff members testified Aug. 22 that Hunter caused them anxiety and fear during his attempts to join the company's Board of Directors.
Gage Canal Director Jason Gless attempted to meet with Hunter two weeks ago, unaware that Hunter was restrained from meeting him under the temporary restraining order, Hunter testified. Inland Empire Law Weekly reached out to Gless to confirm this claim and has not heard back. Another person Hunter was restrained from contacting, Gage Canal President Eric Johnson, came up to Hunter outside the courtroom, tapped his shoulder, shook his hand, smiled, and asked, "How are you?" The restraining order was filed by General Manager Benjamin Alms without notification to the company board, Gage Canal Director Carl Pongs testified. Pongs only heard about the restraining order after a community member told him Hunter was served legal papers at the exclusive Victoria Club.
Hunter claims the bigger question is governmental transparency, and that Alms is targeting him because he does not want him looking into the company's business. The Gage Canal Company provides 24% of Riverside's water, public information officer Phil Pitchford told The Raincross Gazette in May. Pongs said outside the courtroom that the city sells Gage Canal water to other cities. On May 3, 2023, Devin Sodders, a former employee of Gage Canal, sued the company. His complaint alleged Gage Canal had an unlawful arrangement to divert waters from company shareholders to the Western Municipal reservoir. The case was settled in May.
"Everything there (at Gage Canal) was clandestine and secret, and I wanted to learn more," Hunter testified.
The restraining order petition was part of a pattern Hunter claims Riverside city employees conduct against whistleblowers.
"They (The City of Riverside) try to show the whistleblowers, the men, as wild and aggressive, and the women as crazy," Hunter said.
Hunter claims his efforts to join the company as a shareholder and then be voted by minority shareholders onto the board of directors have been blocked by Alms, who wants to make sure the company's business is done in secret.
Two Gage Canal Company shareholders, Larry Brock and Richard Moslenko, initiated share transfers to Hunter shortly before 2024 and 2025 annual shareholder meetings. Neither transfer went through. Brock's transfer in 2024 did not go through on claims that individuals cannot transfer shares to other individuals. Moslenko's transfer in 2025, through an LLC created for the purpose of share transfers, has also not gone through for unexplained reasons. Still, Hunter attempted to attend the company meetings, on the claim that the issues with the share transfers could have been solved by the company during the meeting.
"He believed he was a shareholder, because the share should have been transferred," Moslenko testified.
"I believe the share was not transferred because it was Mr. Hunter…He is very well-educated, asks a lot of questions, I wanted some clarification of how business at the Gage Canal is done," Moslenko said.
The company's staff testified last week that Hunter's attempts to attend the meetings were disruptive and harassing. Hunter testified that he will not attempt to attend a meeting again until he either wins a case he is bringing to make the meetings public, or if the company carries through with shareholders' attempts to give him their shares—a result he doubts.
Ottolia found that Hunter believed he had a reason to attend the meetings, and that the company provided no evidence of violence or credible threats of violence.
"Hunter, even if he was wrong, thought he had a legitimate purpose in attending those meetings. On that basis, the court would deny this petition for a restraining order," Ottolia said.
Still, Ottolia took note of Hunter's personality.
"Your assertiveness and tenacity could be what to someone else is harassment," Ottolia told Hunter.
Moslenko, who testified Aug. 29, said that Alms, the company's manager, attempted to goad him into a fight at the Gage Canal office.
Moslenko testified that, when he was a director, he had asked for documents on the company's water testing practices. He was reviewing them in the Gage Canal office when Alms came and threatened him.
"Alms said, 'Rick, what is the matter with you? You want to spit in my face? You want to beat me up?'" Moslenko testified.
Alms, called back to the stand Friday, denied that the altercation ever happened.
"Do you recall the incident Mr. Moslenko described?" asked June Monroe, Gage Canal's attorney.
"No, because it never took place. And if it did happen, he should have raised it with the board," Alms said.
Chad Morgan, Hunter's attorney, asked Alms if he had ever been sued by an employee who claimed Alms had tried to goad him into a fight. Alms said he had.
Pongs, the Gage Canal director, testified on a subpoena. He said that Alms' statements to the court ran counter to what Alms had told the board. Alms testified that he installed security cameras out of worry that Hunter would put his staff in danger. The board, however, had approved Alms' request for security cameras to deter teenagers from partying in the company's parking lot at night, Pongs said. Hunter was not mentioned in the staff's request to the board for cameras, Pongs said. Alms also testified that he hired security guards for the 2025 annual shareholder meeting out of concern that Hunter might place the staff in danger. Pongs said that the board never approved the security guards, and that he was unsure which company funds were used for them.
Staff had also claimed that Hunter had gotten in a yelling match with a woman following one of the attempted meetings. Hunter testified, though he was standing with them, the argument was between Moslenko and Gage Canal shareholder Mary Humboldt.
Gage Canal bookkeeper Alyssa Lopez claimed she was worried that Hunter might have a weapon because he kept putting his hands in and out of his pockets. When asked by Ottolia, Hunter testified he was trying to be less threatening.
"I talk with my hands, and I know that can be intimidating to people, so I make a conscious effort to keep them in my pockets," Hunter said.
Another claim brought by Monroe, Gage's attorney, is that Hunter threatened Gage Canal Board Member David Garcia in an email.
"Did you tell him to save himself?" Monroe asked.
"Here is the chance to save yourself, and the city, a lot of time, money and resources," Hunter read from the email.
In closing argument, Monroe said that Hunter's actions were not reasonable.
"A reasonable person would confirm shareholder status before attending a shareholder meeting. A reasonable person would stop after their first denial. Mr. Hunter did not," Monroe said.
"His behavior is confrontational. He tries to make conflicts," she continued.
Morgan, Hunter's attorney, said that Alms cultivated unreasonable fear in his employees.
Hunter brought a case alleging that Riverside's control of the Gage Canal Company effectively makes the company a public entity under California's open meetings act. Ottolia will preside over a motion for a preliminary injunction on that case on Oct. 10.
