Gates Asks City to Pay His Legal Fees

Bracing for what could become a long and costly court fight, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates has asked the Los Angeles City Council to pay his legal bills, which could exceed $1 million before his lawsuit against the city is resolved, officials and lawyers said Monday.

Gates also has authorized the formation of a legal expense fund by a group of supporters who want the chief permanently reinstated in his job.

The issue of who should pay for the chief’s lawyers has become a matter of some urgency as negotiations to settle the lawsuit have faltered over the last week. Gates has been represented in court and before the City Council by private attorneys Jay Grodin and Harry Melkonian, who have not yet billed the chief for their services.

Council members said Gates’ request for legal fees will be considered in a closed session today. “I have to be convinced,” said City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, chairman of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee.

Although settlement negotiations continued Monday, city officials said the parties appeared to be moving farther apart and an out-of-court settlement seemed unlikely before Wednesday’s scheduled hearing.

“The Police Commission is being stubborn,” said City Council President John Ferraro, who has been pushing for a settlement along with Gates’ lawyers and members of Mayor Tom Bradley’s staff.

“I don’t know of any change in the status quo,” said Melanie Lomax, a member of the commission. Lomax said the commission is “proceeding in the direction of letting the court make a determination” of the commission’s authority under the City Charter.

The legal dispute over Gates’ job began April 4, when the commission placed him on a 60-day paid administrative leave while it conducted a wide-ranging investigation prompted by the videotaped beating of Rodney G. King.

Enraged City Council members restored Gates to his job the following day through a legal maneuver. The matter is now in Superior Court, where a judge has been asked to determine whether the council had the authority to reinstate the chief.

After a court hearing last week, sources said, Police Commission members decided to toughen their settlement demands. The commissioners are now seeking assurances from the council that it will not attempt to interfere with the commission’s actions in the future, particularly in relation to Gates’ tenure.

The other conditions of the proposed agreement were: Gates would be restored permanently to his position as chief; the Police Commission would take no action on his job status for at least 90 days; the council would appropriate $150,000 to the commission so that it could conduct an independent investigation of the chief, and the commission would agree to consider the findings of a panel appointed by the mayor before taking any action against Gates, but would not be bound by the panel’s findings.

Ferraro said that the council will consider the Gates litigation and the settlement proposal in closed session today along with the chief’s request that his attorneys be paid by the city.

According to his attorney, Gates is seeking “reasonable legal fees” as part of the settlement. Grodin would not put a figure on the bills, but said “the chief’s claims could be seven figures” by the time the issue is resolved.

Meanwhile, Gates has authorized Citizens in Support of the Chief of Police (CISCOP) to explore methods of raising funds to help defray legal fees.

Sherman Oaks attorney Howard Ekerling, a Gates supporter, said he has begun “exploring the most efficient, effective and least costly way” of setting up a legal defense fund.

“We realize the need to pay the chief’s legal bills,” Ekerling said, “and having in mind those legal bills will start coming in shortly, we are working toward the desired result.”

Eric Rose, a CISCOP leader who managed Gates’ exploratory gubernatorial campaign in 1988, said the group may hold a fund-raising dinner with business, political and community leaders and make a direct mail solicitation of Gates’ supporters.