LONG BEACH : Outside Lawyers Hired in Harassment Suits
The City Council has decided to hire outside attorneys to defend the city prosecutor and two deputy prosecutors who have been accused in a civil lawsuit of sexual harassment, discrimination and other improprieties.
The council recently approved an initial expenditure of $150,000 in attorneys’ fees.
The allegations were made by Lynda Vitale, a deputy city prosecutor who took a stress-related leave of absence from her job last June. Her lawsuit, filed in Superior Court last month, seeks unspecified damages against the city of Long Beach, Prosecutor John Vander Lans and deputy prosecutors Ken Bird and David Gordon.
Vitale, who was in charge of misdemeanor domestic abuse cases for the prosecutor’s office from 1990 to 1994, said she encountered harassment and hostility, and that some attorneys also made offensive references about female crime victims. Vitale said Vander Lans did not participate in the harassment, but allowed it to continue.
Vander Lans said he and the other attorneys are prevented from commenting on the charges because of the pending litigation.
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