Council Approves $300,000 Payment in KKK Spy Case

The San Diego City Council agreed Tuesday to give nearly $300,000 to Douglas K. Seymour and finally put to rest a controversial police operation that began nine years ago when the police reservist infiltrated the hierarchy of the Ku Klux Klan.

The council’s decision to write Seymour a check for $294,569.89 cuts short the legal appeals that followed a monthlong trial this spring in which Seymour and the city battled over his role as an undercover cop.

Seymour had claimed in his suit that he suffered emotional distress and that he lost his wife and business while working undercover because the San Diego Police Department disavowed his work and kept him on the difficult assignment too long.

The dollar figure approved by the council was reached about two weeks ago by the city’s legal staff and Seymour’s attorneys. They saw it as a compromise between a $531,000 jury award and a significantly lower amount, $162,400, imposed by a San Diego County Superior Court judge.

“We feel that this is in the best interest of Doug Seymour,” said Paul Edmondson, one of his attorneys. “He is happy with this settlement. He basically now just wants to get on with his life.”

Seymour recently moved out of San Diego to an undisclosed location. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Edmondson said he talked with Seymour on Tuesday and that his client did not wish to discuss the case until after the city’s check is received.

Edmondson added that Seymour was not particularly discouraged that he had to compromise for a lower amount than the $531,000 the jury originally awarded at the close of his trial against the city and the Police Department.

“There are uncertainties in everything,” the lawyer said. “And it’s just a question as to whether or not, by going through with the appeal, you would prevail. You could always appeal and lose. So there are uncertainties, and this is a means to avoid uncertainties.”

Curtis Fitzpatrick, assistant city attorney, said the city agreed to settle the case because there was concern that a second trial in the case could end in an even higher judgment than the $531,000.

Risk to City Cited

“To the extent there might be a retrial, the exposure of the city might be substantially higher,” Fitzpatrick said. “You never know. You’re up there. You’re shooting craps again.”

With that uncertain feeling, he said, the city thought it best to just end the whole affair.

“In view of what came out in the first trial,” he added, “we thought it was just as well to go by the boards.”

Seymour was a San Diego police reserve officer when he was recruited in 1979 for the undercover Klan detail. For 2 1/2 years he attended Klan rallies, demonstrations and cross burnings throughout Southern California. He rose in the organization to become one of Klan leader Tom Metzger’s right-hand men in the inner circle of the white supremacy organization.

During that period, Metzger was engaged in a bitter and ultimately unsuccessful campaign for Congress. And Seymour, trying to keep his true identity from becoming known, worked alongside Metzger during the race.

Went to Trial in April

In his suit, Seymour contended that the undercover detail caused him severe emotional stress and the loss of his marriage and private construction consulting business. He also alleged that Kolender and other police officials destroyed his police reports and disavowed his undercover operation after Metzger threatened to sue them.

Seymour’s case went to trial in April. A month later, he was awarded the $531,000 amount when a jury found that two senior police officers did violate his civil rights by keeping him too long against his will on the Klan assignment.

But Judge Raul Rosado said in June that he did not detect any lingering emotional distress in Seymour. The judge reduced the award to $162,400.

The city, meanwhile, requested a new trial. And the judge said he would grant that request, but only if Seymour would not accept the lower monetary award.

Seymour did refuse to accept the lower amount. By doing so, the entire courtroom judgment was vacated, leaving open the real possibility of a new trial.

Seymour also filed an appeal in July with the 4th District Court of Appeal. The city filed a cross appeal.

Then both sides, fearing additional costs and delays in settling the case, began negotiating.