Firefighters Sue City in Civil Rights Case

Four firefighters have sued in Orange County Superior Court, claiming that their civil rights were violated when they were fired two years ago after participating in a recall targeting city officials.

The suit, which seeks punitive damages and an unspecified amount of back wages and benefits, names defendants that include the city of Westminster and the Orange County Fire Authority.

The firefighters are Paul Gilbrook of Garden Grove, the former president of the city’s firefighters union; Michael Garrison of Corona, a former fire captain; Donald Herr of Irvine, the former acting chief of the department; and Hal Raphael of Bellflower, a former battalion chief.

They maintain they were terminated after seeking to recall four City Council members for trying to reduce fire department service and staffing levels. When they were fired, they claim in the suit, they were falsely accused of payroll fraud and gross negligence.

Together the four, who are acting as their own attorneys in the lawsuit, had accumulated more than 69 years of active duty with the Westminster department.

Westminster Mayor Charles V. Smith, who was also listed in the lawsuit along with council members Frank Fry Jr., Charmayne Bohman and Tony Lam, called the firefighters’ charges “a repeat of the same old thing.”

“This is just more of their political harassment, that’s all it is,” Smith said.

Three of the firefighters won similar lawsuits in federal court that are under appeal by the city.