Judge Reinstates Gates in a Temporary Ruling : Police: The hearing on the chief’s future covers a broad range of issues and will resume April 25. At stake is who will control the department.

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates was temporarily reinstated by a Superior Court judge on Monday, but the judge refused to sign an agreement that would have thrown out the Police Commission’s decision to place Gates on a 60-day leave.

Judge Ronald M. Sohigian paved the way for Gates to return to work this morning by issuing a temporary restraining order saying the commission’s decision “has caused and will continue to cause immediate and irreparable damage” to the chief and to the public.

But in a setback for the chief, the judge decided to allow lawyers for the Police Commission and several civil rights groups to return to court April 25 to argue that the City Council acted improperly when it agreed to give Gates his job back.

At stake in the legal battle is who will control the Los Angeles Police Department--the City Council, or the civilian Police Commission appointed by the mayor. The City Charter allows the commission to hire and fire, as well as discipline, the police chief. But the City Council has authority to settle lawsuits.

The issue of Gates’ future has divided the city--and city officials--since the March 3 police beating of Altadena resident Rodney G. King. With the judge’s ruling, the focus of the controversy has now shifted to the legal arena.

City government was plunged into turmoil last week when the commission placed Gates on involuntary furlough pending an investigation. The chief threatened to sue the city, but the council came to his defense, agreeing to settle the suit before it was even filed by giving Gates his job back.

On Monday, attorneys for Gates arrived in court fully expecting a quick victory by persuading the judge to sign off on their settlement. But the agreement fell apart when a coalition of civil rights and community groups rushed forward with their own lawsuit and declared the arrangement a “sham settlement.”

The coalition--made up of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Urban League, among others--was elated after Monday’s hearing, saying the judge had cleared the way for them to continue their fight to thwart the settlement in court.

“We rained on their parade,” declared Mark Ridley-Thomas, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a candidate for City Council. “If we had not been here, it would have been a done deal.”

But Gates’ lawyers also claimed victory after the hearing--even though they did not get their settlement approved. “Our real purpose for being here was to see the chief back on active duty as chief,” said Harry Melkonian, who acknowledged that he had drafted the temporary restraining order in case the judge did not sign the settlement.

During the hearing, Melkonian tried unsuccessfully to keep the judge from hearing attorneys who were trying to block the settlement. “There is only one matter in front of you,” he told the judge. “And that one matter is: All the parties have agreed upon a settlement.”

Despite Melkonian’s efforts, the judge allowed a much broader range of issues to be discussed--including whether the City Council is usurping the authority of the Police Commission and whether the city attorney has a conflict of interest.

In all, nine lawyers stood before Sohigian. Lawyers for the civil rights groups contended that the city attorney’s office had a conflict of interest because it had advised the Police Commission, the chief and the council at various times throughout the King affair.

Meanwhile, the Police Commission hired a private attorney, Hillel Chodos, to represent it at the hearing, even though the city attorney had lawyers present.

“They’re not just settling a case,” Chodos told the judge. “The chief and the city attorney have gotten together and agreed that you should make an order directed at the Police Commission. . . . The power to decide how to run the Police Department belongs to the commission and the City Council does not have the power under the (City) Charter to override the Police Commission.”

But Senior Assistant City Atty. Fred Merkin claimed he was rightfully representing the Police Commission and that Chodos did not belong in the courtroom.

“His clients are interlopers,” Merkin told the judge. “They have no standing.”

The judge said he needed time to sort out the conflicting claims.

“I’m simply trying to make a distinction between the rights of the parties here,” said Sohigian, who ordered the attorneys to file briefs before the April 25 hearing. At that time, the judge said, he will consider whether to make his restraining order permanent.

At one point during Monday’s hearing, Sohigian questioned whether it was necessary to have Gates on leave while an investigation continued into the King beating. He likened Gates to federal court judges who retain their seats while impeachment proceedings are brought against them in Congress.

“Does anybody really need to have the chief of police on administrative leave, particularly when the investigation will be sealed from Gates’ ability to control it?” Sohigian said. “. . .It isn’t as if having him around is going to let him poison the waters.”

Gates himself was not at the hearing, but he did make an afternoon visit to Parker Center, dressed in civilian garb. In brief remarks to reporters, he attempted to defuse some of the tension that has gripped the city for the past month.

“I think it’s time to cool it,” Gates said. “Let’s get together. Let’s get this city back together.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Tom Bradley, who last week publicly called on Gates to resign, issued a terse statement in which he also sought to calm tempers. “Now maybe everyone can give a rest to the rhetoric that has monopolized the airwaves over the last few weeks,” Bradley said.

None of the three police commissioners who voted to place Gates on leave was at Monday’s court hearing. Reached afterward, commission Vice President Melanie Lomax said: “The fact that the judge made the decision today doesn’t mean that this will be a final determination. . . . I believe as much today as I believed last week that the Police Commission did the right thing.”

Sohigian’s ruling capped a day of intense legal maneuvering on the part of lawyers for Gates, the City Council, the commission and the civil rights groups. All weekend long, they had mapped their different strategies.

On Monday morning, as threatened, lawyers for Gates filed suit. They claimed that the chief’s constitutional rights to due process had been violated and said the commission ignored the state’s open meetings law by convening in secret to decide Gates’ fate.

Meanwhile, attorneys for the civil rights groups filed what they called a “taxpayers’ suit” in which they claimed that the council illegally attempted to usurp the authority of the Police Commission to prove who is “boss in the city of Los Angeles.”

In other developments, Lt. George Aliano, president of the Police Protective League, said the police union has scheduled a general membership meeting Thursday and Friday to discuss a possible effort to recall Mayor Bradley.

Aliano, whose union represents 8,100 of the Police Department’s 8,300 members, said he will also suggest “lawful, off-duty” picketing and a work “slowdown.” But he said he did not favor a strike or a slowdown because they might anger the public.

Meanwhile, Bradley--who has come under fire for calling on Gates to resign--defended his actions Monday before the National Forum of Black Public Administrators at a convention at the Los Angeles Airport Hilton.

“I have made a decision, taken a position because I thought they were right,” Bradley said. “I didn’t do it because I thought it would have some popular appeal, some political return. And if there is approval, so be it. If there is misunderstanding or disagreements with statements or positions, so be it.”

Bradley then thanked the crowd for applauding his stand and for offering to back him if he needed it.

“Thanks for the offer to help,” he said. “But let me tell you something. If you find Tom Bradley and the bear in a fight, help the bear.”

Times staff writers Leslie Berger, Jane Fritsch and John L. Mitchell contributed to this story.