SIMI VALLEY : Ex-Officer Receives $100,000 Settlement

Simi Valley officials revealed Thursday that they paid about $100,000 in a civil settlement and disability insurance to a former police lieutenant who was ordered into medical retirement for undisclosed reasons in 1993.

The agreement ended federal and state civil suits and a workers’ compensation claim that Lt. Robert Klamser had filed against Simi Valley after the city ordered him into retirement on Nov. 25, 1993.

As a retiree, Klamser, 42, will get annual benefits equal to 50% of his former $66,000-a-year salary, tax-free, for the rest of his life

Klamser had sued to get his job back.

But he said Thursday he gave up that bid because he was already planning to leave the department to devote more time to his work as a private consultant for international hostage negotiators.

“The demands have become incredible, as far as the time and commitment,” Klamser said. “But when this settlement offer was made, I had the opportunity of continuing the litigation for several more years or to use the mechanism of the settlement to make the transition.”

In addition to the financial settlement, Klamser said, the city acknowledged specifically that it had not taken any disciplinary action against him.

However, Assistant City Manager Mike Sedell declined to comment. While the Brown Act requires cities to disclose the cash amount of any settlement, he said, most of the remaining terms of the agreement will be kept private under employee confidentiality laws.