Mayor Objects to Mass Court Appearance by City Officials

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan is expected to file court documents today seeking to block a federal judge’s order that he and dozens of other city officials appear in court all on one day to determine whether several civil rights lawsuits against the city can be settled.

The mayor believes the order by U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts will unnecessarily disrupt City Hall business Oct. 20 when the mayor, City Council members, police commissioners, the police chief, city attorneys and other city and police employees are scheduled to appear in court, a mayor’s spokeswoman said.

The lawsuits stem from two incidents involving shootings by officers in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Special Investigations Section.

Attorneys for the mayor are expected to ask an appeals court to modify Letts’ order so that representatives for the city officials named in the lawsuits can appear in court instead of the officials themselves, the spokeswoman said.

If the petition fails, the mayor will honor Letts’ order, she added.

Letts, in a five-page ruling, said he felt compelled to require that the city officials appear in court because the defendants objected to his plan to appoint two volunteer advisors to assist him in evaluating the cases.

Attorney Steven Yagman, who represents the plaintiffs, said the mayor’s petition is “laughable.”