Judge Overturns $1.3-Million Verdict Against Gates, 2 Aides

A judge has overturned a jury verdict that ordered Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and two of his top assistants to pay a total of $1.3 million to a former police captain who claims they violated his civil rights.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Lavine ruled Thursday that there was no evidence to support Dennis Lunder’s contention that he was punished for backing a City Council candidate opposed by Gates.

The ruling came on the city’s appeal of the jury verdict.

“I am, of course, quite gratified by Judge Lavine’s ruling,” Gates said in a prepared statement released by his office. “He saw the Lunder case for what it was--a fraud, a poorly disguised attempt to rip off the citizens of Los Angeles. . . . He just wanted their money, and lots of it.”

Lunder, 45, who now runs a small manufacturing business in Mexico, claimed that his request for extension of a personal leave of absence was denied by the Police Department after he wrote letters supporting Mike Woo in Woo’s unsuccessful 1981 bid to unseat incumbent Councilwoman Peggy Stevenson.

Lunder says Gates supported Stevenson.

Agreeing that Lunder’s civil rights had been violated by the department’s refusal to grant the extension, a jury in May ordered Gates, Deputy Chief Robert Vernon and Deputy Chief Ron Frankel to pay Lunder a total of $1.11 million in compensatory damages.

In addition, the jury awarded Lunder punitive damages, ordering Gates to pay him $75,000, Vernon to pay him $65,000 and Frankel to pay him $55,000.

City attorneys have said the city would pay all the damages if the verdict were upheld because Gates, Frankel and Vernon were acting in their official capacities when the request for leave extension was denied.

Frankel said he felt “vindicated” by the judge’s decision to overturn the jury’s verdict. Vernon is in Europe on vacation.

Glenn Buzard, an attorney for Lunder, has indicated he will appeal Lavine’s ruling.