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Michael Mercurio, a former CEO of the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors accused of embezzlement, is suing the association and its multiple listing service for wrongful termination.
Mercurio filed a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court on April 24 against SDAR and San Diego MLS, alleging the classification of his termination from the association in April 2023 as “for cause” due to “vague, unsubstantiated, and ultimately disproven allegations” was a pretext to get out of contractually obligated severance payments owed under his employment agreement.
“Plaintiff brings this action not only to recover the substantial damages he has suffered, but to hold SDAR accountable for its breach of contractual and legal duties, and to restore his good name,” the complaint reads.
In July 2023, former SDAR executives filed suit against the association and Mercurio, alleging they were fired for raising concerns about Mercurio’s behavior and accusing him of using association credit cards for personal purchases, inflating his vacation time by 300 hours and then cashing it out, and selling big-ticket items that the association paid for on eBay, all to the tune of more than $1 million.
According to that complaint, “the CEO’s brazen theft and fraud went unchecked by SDAR’s Board of Directors, many of whom may have been complicit in the CEO’s illegal schemes and chose to bury Mercurio’s criminal acts in a transparent cover-up, which threatened the future economic viability of SDAR as a whole.”
That suit is ongoing and is scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 24, 2025.
Michael Mercurio
According to Mercurio’s lawsuit, SDAR’s board of directors investigated the complaints made against him and “confirmed” he had not committed payroll fraud, tax evasion, harassment, or self-dealing, or intentional falsification of expenses.
“The only criticisms levied against Plaintiff amounted to subjective complaints regarding his managerial style and focus on administrative minutiae – concerns long known to the Performance Review Committee and previously condoned,” the complaint says.
“In fact, members of SDAR’s leadership openly acknowledged that Plaintiff’s strengths and limitations had been understood and accepted for years. One Board member even remarked that SDAR ‘could not use [plaintiffs management practices] against him because we knew about it and let him do it.’
“While some members of the larger Board may have been surprised to learn details of Plaintiffs benefits — such as his PTO package, travel allowances, and running balance of reimbursable expenses — SDAR’s executive leadership had long approved or ratified those arrangements. These cannot now be retroactively weaponized to support a termination for cause.”
Mercurio’s complaint accuses SDAR and SDMLS of breach of contract, wrongful termination in violation of public policy, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and failure to timely pay all wages owed at separation as well as associated waiting time penalties.
The suit also alleges sexual discrimination, harassment and retaliation, and racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation. According to the complaint, starting around 2022 through his termination, Mercurio “was subjected to repeated, offensive, and unwelcome sexual and racial comments and conduct by senior members of SDAR’s Board, including then-Presidents Chris Anderson (2022) and Frank Powell (2023).”
These alleged comments included “[g]raphic, sexually explicit ‘jokes’ involving incest, menstruation, and oral sex; [o]ffensive, demeaning, and vile references to individuals with disabilities and performing sex acts; [r]egular, sexually charged comments in the workplace creating a hostile environment” and “graphic ‘jokes’ referencing Holocaust imagery and anti-Black racist remarks.”
According to the complaint, Mercurio complained to members of the SDAR board about the remarks.
“Rather than addressing his complaints, Defendants retaliated against Plaintiff by marginalizing his authority, falsely accusing him of misconduct, and ultimately terminating him on April 30, 2023,” the complaint says.
Chris Anderson
Anderson featured prominently in the former SDAR’s executives’ lawsuit as one of the high-ranking SDAR board members who allegedly turned “a blind eye” to Mercurio’s alleged crimes. Anderson is also SDAR’s current president — her third stint in the role. She was also SDAR’s president in 2015. According to her LinkedIn profile, she has been a member of SDAR’s board of directors for at least 16 of the past 24 years.
SDAR officers, including the president, are elected by the board of directors. On August 26, 2023, a month after the former SDAR executives filed their suit, SDAR changed its eligibility requirements for officers to require that they have completed three full years of service out of the last five years on the board of directors before the year for which they are nominated for office. Previously, they only had to have completed two full years of service overall before the year for which they were nominated.
Mercurio was formerly CEO of both SDAR and SDMLS, but the association and MLS are currently helmed by two different people. Mercurio was replaced as CEO of SDAR immediately after his termination by Cory Shepard. Tessa Hultz became CEO of SDAR in December 2024, the third person to hold the role in two years.
In January 2024, industry veteran Saul Klein replaced Mercurio as CEO of SDMLS.
Inman reached out to Hultz for comment and she directed Inman to SDAR’s counsel, Alexis Gutierrez at Higgs Fletcher & Mack. Inman reached out to Gutierrez and Klein for comment and will update this story if and when responses are received.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with further details from the former SDAR executives’ lawsuit as well as information regarding how SDAR officers are elected.
Read the complaint (reload page if document is not visible):
