LOS ANGELES : Ruling Removing Council Immunity to Be Appealed
The city of Los Angeles will appeal a ruling that stripped council members of immunity from being sued or personally paying damages in a police abuse case in which they voted to pay damages against former Chief Daryl F. Gates and nine officers, the city attorney’s office told a federal judge Thursday.
Deputy City Atty. Don Vincent said the appeal stops civil rights attorney Stephen Yagman from beginning depositions of the council members. But he said it also sets the stage for a precedent-setting ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that could erode the council’s immunity.
The ruling was handed down Monday by U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts in a civil case filed on behalf of the 2-year-old daughter of one of three robbers slain by police after a 1990 robbery of a McDonald’s in Sunland.
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