Journal Was Made Public Without Permission : Ex-Aide to Kolender Wins Lawsuit Over Diary

A former San Diego policewoman who kept a diary listing personal errands she ran for Chief Bill Kolender has been awarded $175,001 in damages from her former police-association attorney because she said he publicly released the journal without her consent.

A San Diego County Superior Court jury awarded Jeanne Taylor $1 in punitive damages Tuesday and $175,000 in compensatory damages the previous Thursday. Taylor had contended that she suffered emotional distress after Patrick J. Thistle made the diary public without her approval two years ago.

The diary was partly responsible for the city manager’s decision to formally reprimand Kolender for fixing traffic tickets for friends and relatives and for improperly using city employees and equipment for personal benefit.

Taylor, who was a uniformed aide in the chief’s office before she retired on a medical disability in 1986, could not be reached for comment.

But her attorney, Abby Silverman, said the jury’s award after a two-week trial was just compensation for the problems her client suffered when Thistle included the diary as part of a public complaint he filed with the Civil Service Commission.

“She was mortified,” Silverman said of Taylor, a 10-year police veteran. “She was so mortified she couldn’t face people. She was portrayed to the community as a snitch, even though she really didn’t do it to get back at the chief.

“It was nothing she wanted published,” Silverman added. “And that’s basically what happened. Mr. Thistle invaded her privacy and committed legal malpractice.”

However, Thistle, who was then the lawyer for the San Diego Police Officers Assn. and had handled Taylor’s disability claim, said Taylor had wanted the diary released.

“She told her people at work about it,” he said. “She had a lengthy interview with the press after she was retired. She told the press she was going to release it, and she gave me permission to do exactly, precisely what I did.”

Kolender said he agreed with the jury’s verdict because “what he (Thistle) did was wrong.”

The chief also maintained that Taylor was never forced to run personal errands for him. “The original situation was that she volunteered for everything,” he said Tuesday.

But, at the time the diary became public, Kolender conceded that he used Taylor as a personal messenger and said his requests for her to run personal errands were “indefensible.” He also said he would no longer make similar requests of uniformed officers assigned to his office.

Taylor left the department in 1986 because of the disability case. She had hurt her knee in 1978 when she fell through a porch. Between 1980 and 1981, she worked light duty in the chief’s office, wearing a uniform and carrying a gun.

During that period, she kept a diary of the many tasks that were requested of her by Kolender and some of his top assistants, including Assistant Chief Bob Burgreen. These included personal errands such as picking up birthday cards, sporting equipment, popcorn, coffee cups and laundry.

She also wrote in the diary that she drove Kolender’s wife to a social function, picked up the chief’s Halloween costume, delivered wedding and bar mitzvah gifts to his family and friends, picked up Charger tickets for his friends and went Christmas shopping for him.

The diary was not used directly in Taylor’s disability case, but it was included by Thistle in the lengthy complaint he filed with the Civil Service Commission.

The complaint alleged that the Police Department harasses officers who pursue disability claims. The 58-page diary was submitted as part of the complaint, along with cases involving other officers.