Signal Hill : City Loses in Firing Case
The city has lost in an effort to reduce a $175,000 award to former Patrolman Jerry Fleisher, who was fired in 1983 for sexual misconduct.
U. S. District Judge William J. Rea Monday also denied the city’s bid for a new trial. Last month, in a trial before Rea, a federal jury decided that the city violated Fleisher’s right of privacy by investigating his private life before firing him, said Fleisher’s lawyer, Stephen Yagman of Los Angeles.
Fleisher was one of four officers fired in 1983 after accusations were made by a former Explorer scout, who said she was sexually involved with four officers between 1979 and 1983. Two of the officers, Gary D. Mortenson and Brian J. Campbell, appealed the firing but lost, while a fourth officer, Jon D. Ohman, won an appeal to the Civil Service Commission in 1984 and was reinstated.
Fleisher, now 25, has admitted that he had sex in 1980 with the girl who made the accusations. At the time, both Fleisher and the girl were teen-age Explorer scouts, Yagman said. Fleisher maintained that he never had sex with the girl after he joined the force in 1983.
The city’s lawyer, James D. De Roche of Los Angeles, could not be reached for comment on whether the city would appeal.
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