San Francisco to pay $750,000 in retaliation settlement over missing skull claim

San Francisco taxpayers will cover a $750,000 settlement after a former autopsy technician accused the city’s medical examiner’s office of retaliating against her for reporting that a human skull had disappeared from custody at 1 Newhall Street.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved the payout unanimously on Tuesday, resolving a wrongful-termination and retaliation case brought by Sonia Kominek-Adachi against the City and County of San Francisco. Kominek-Adachi, who worked as an autopsy technician and death investigator at the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court on February 5, 2024.

Kominek-Adachi said she discovered the skull was missing in January 2023 while inventorying body parts in the office’s care. She alleged that the skull had been tossed during a rushed cleanup before an inspection, and that she reported the missing remains to executive director David Serrano Sewell and other supervisors. The lawsuit said that instead of addressing her concerns, the office responded with retaliation, harassment and, later in 2023, her firing after she had been promoted into a temporary at-will position.

The city attorney’s office said the skull had never left the medical examiner’s office. Kominek-Adachi’s attorney said she was pleased to put the matter behind her and to have her voice heard, adding that the settlement was the right outcome given the cost of continued litigation.

The case carried added weight because the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is the city agency responsible for investigating sudden, unexpected and violent deaths, including overdoses and suspected homicides or suicides. It is also charged with determining the cause and manner of death for cases under its jurisdiction, making any allegation about evidence handling or chain-of-custody failures especially sensitive.

Kominek-Adachi’s complaint also broadened the dispute beyond the missing skull. It alleged that Sewell discriminated against her and other women, used racial slurs, made derogatory comments about women and interfered in office and accreditation-related matters. Those claims framed the case not just as a personnel dispute, but as a test of whether a critical public agency can police itself when staff raise concerns about misconduct.

The unanimous vote sent the city’s latest check toward closing a case that now stands as another expensive example of how internal breakdowns inside San Francisco departments can end up costing the public.