RTA rejects wrongful termination claims by former director Moghimi

A law firm representing the Regional Transportation Authority and a related organization, the Pima Association of Governments, asked a Pima County Superior Court judge earlier this month to dismiss a former executive director’s lawsuit claiming that he was wrongly terminated.

Farhad Moghimi, who was fired from the top job of both linked organizations in July 2025, filed a lawsuit against RTA/PAG in February seeking unspecified compensatory, punitive and consequential damages as well as legal costs.

Attorney Jason E. Hunter of Chicago-based law firm Litchfield Cavo LLP said that Moghimi’s complaint “fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under Arizona law, including but not limited to insufficient factual allegations supporting breach, causation, or damages.”

Hunter wrote in a May 1 filing that Moghimi’s firing “was lawful, justified and consistent with contractual provisions governing performance, evaluation and termination.”

Moghimi’s lawsuit claims that he was wrongfully terminated when the board that manages both organizations voted 5-4 to dismiss him in June 2025.

The RTA board, which is identical to the Pima Association of Governments board, oversees the transportation agency’s work in Pima County. The RTA handles transportation funding generated by a half-cent sales tax first approved by voters in 2006. Pima County voters approved a new plan and renewed the sales tax in this year’s special March election by a nearly 3-2 margin.

Moghimi’s attorney, Jeffrey H. Jacobson, said his client’s termination came because, among other issues, Moghimi resisted political pressure to increase funding for road projects and filed complaints about harassment from local elected officials such as Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and Pima County Supervisor Matt Heinz.

Moghimi’s lawsuit was filed against the RTA and PAG but left open the possibility of naming other defendants as the legal process unfolds.

The allegations in the lawsuit echo a $3.8 million claim filed against the organization in November 2025.

That legal notice named all the members of the RTA board, including Romero, Matt Heinz, Oro Valley Mayor Joe Winfield, Marana Mayor Jon Post, Sahuarita Mayor Tom Murphy, South Tucson Mayor Roxanna Valenzuela, Pascua Yaqui Tribal Chairman Julian Hernandez, Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon Jose and State Transportation Board member Ted Maxwell.

Romero, Heinz, Valenzuela, Hernandez and Jose voted in favor of terminating Moghimi’s contract.

Moghimi became executive director of both PAG and the RTA in 2013 but in recent years, he openly clashed with Romero and Heinz.

Moghimi’s lawsuit and claim note several incidents, including his rejection of pressure from Tucson officials to approve funding requests he believed required voter approval.

The claim notes that Moghimi reported a potential conflict of interest to state officials in 2021 after Romero’s son participated in a public art program funded by PAG.

The claim notes that after Heinz first called for Moghimi’s firing in September 2022, Moghimi “complained to PAG that he was being harassed, retaliated against, and the subject of a smear campaign because of his participation in the Auditor General’s investigation, audits, and refusal to violate state law.”

Heinz moved to dismiss Moghimi after he was appointed to the RTA board earlier this year.

“It was time to hit the reset button and to just kind of wipe the slate clean in terms of the leadership and move forward,” Heinz said after the vote. “Let’s get refocused on the goal, and that is to have continued, coordinated regional transportation infrastructure.”