King Drops Appeal of Jury Ruling in Deal With City

Rodney G. King has dropped his appeal of a jury’s decision to deny him punitive damages against the police officers who beat him, and in return, the city of Los Angeles has agreed to waive $28,000 in legal fees in the case, attorneys said Tuesday.

The deal between the city and King’s lawyers is “a good-faith act on the part of the city to get this behind us,” Deputy City Atty. Don Vincent said.

The agreement all but ends three years of legal wrangling between King and the city.

In his civil trial, a jury awarded King $3.8 million in compensatory damages but refused to grant him punitive damages.

King’s attorney, Milton Grimes, appealed the second ruling July 7, but asked last week that the appeal be withdrawn, Vincent said. In exchange, Vincent said, the city agreed to waive legal costs that it had incurred during the second phase of the trial.

Riots swept Los Angeles in the spring of 1992 after a state jury acquitted four Los Angeles police officers of criminal charges that they abused King during a beating that occurred after King was stopped for a traffic violation on March 3, 1991.

However, in a federal trial last year, former police Sgt. Stacey C. Koon and former Officer Laurence M. Powell were convicted of violating King’s civil rights. Koon and Powell are serving 30-month prison sentences.

Vincent said the final resolution of this year’s civil trial will accelerate the city’s payment of the compensatory damages. He said a request for payment of the $3.8 million will be placed before the City Council on Tuesday, and a check could be written to King within a week of the council’s approval.

The issue still to be resolved is attorneys fees for Grimes and King’s former lawyer, Steven Lerman, Vincent said. He said the fees are to be determined by U.S. District Court Judge John G. Davies in September.