Judge Throws Out $2.3-Million Sex Bias Award Against LAPD

Calling the verdict excessive, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Macklin Fleming has canceled the $2.3-million award that jurors recently granted to a former police officer who said she suffered sex discrimination and harassment as she tried to gain a spot on the Los Angeles Police Department’s elite SWAT unit.

Fleming ruled that judicial error and attorney misconduct marred the trial that resulted in the verdict in favor of Nina Damianakes, a veteran officer who quit the force as she pressed her lawsuit against the LAPD. He granted the city attorney’s motion for a new trial.

In his ruling, issued Tuesday, Fleming said he should have dismissed a juror who complained to him during the trial that she took offense at comments by the deputy city attorney defending the LAPD. He also expressed anger that Damianakes’ lawyer, Patrick McNicholas, urged jurors to “send a message” to the LAPD with their verdict. Fleming deemed that argument inappropriate, since Damianakes’ lawsuit did not demand punitive damages.

McNicholas said he would appeal Fleming’s ruling. Whatever the outcome, he added, Damianakes “doesn’t feel there’s anything the judge can do to diminish what the jury did, which was to find that the LAPD discriminated against her and discriminated against women.”