L.A. Approves Attorney’s Fee in Police Brutality Suit

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved paying $378,175 in legal fees to a civil rights attorney who won a police brutality lawsuit against former Police Chief Daryl Gates and nine officers.

A federal judge two weeks ago ordered payment of the award to Stephen Yagman and his law partners. On Tuesday, the City Council, which is required to pay the money by Sept. 16, agreed to the settlement.

“Nobody liked it, but we didn’t have any real options,” said Councilman Hal Bernson. “So we just held our noses.”

The payment will be Yagman’s fee for winning a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department’s Special Investigations Section for its handling of a Feb. 12, 1990, incident in which nine SIS officers shot and killed three robbers and wounded a fourth as they left a McDonald’s restaurant in Sunland. Under federal law, plaintiffs in such cases may receive attorneys’ fees, in addition to damages.

Yagman, representing the surviving robber and relatives of the dead men, sued the officers in the controversial LAPD unit, claiming they used excessive force against the robbers.

In March, a federal court jury found the officers personally liable and Gates responsible on the grounds that his leadership was ultimately to blame. The jury awarded the plaintiffs a total of $44,042, saying the amount was set low so that Gates and the officers would pay it out of their own pockets.

But the City Council paid the damages, touching off a separate legal battle. Council members two weeks ago were ordered to face trial as defendants in a $20-million federal court lawsuit on behalf of Johanna Trevino, the 2-year-old daughter of one of the men killed in the Sunland shootout. Yagman argued that by paying damages assessed police officers in such cases, the council members were in effect condoning and fostering police brutality.