Mayor Gives Deposition on Police Suits Privately

Mayor Richard Riordan got his scheduled grilling from civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman on Thursday, but the mayor elected to take their encounter behind closed doors.

Later, Riordan described Yagman as a “bright, tough, relentless questioner” and said he had emerged from the deposition respecting him, but not liking him.

“I haven’t had so much fun since my dog died,” Riordan said. “It was a tough deposition by an experienced lawyer. I came away respecting his ability. That doesn’t mean I liked him.”

The mayor’s testimony was delivered out of public view as part of a set of lawsuits that Yagman has brought against the Los Angeles Police Department’s controversial Special Investigations Section. In those cases, Yagman has accused SIS officers of excessive force and violations of civil rights. City officials also are accused of allowing the unit to commit its alleged misdeeds.

In his questioning Thursday, Yagman sought to show that Riordan was involved in settling cases brought against police officers and that the mayor has oversight responsibility for the Police Department and SIS.

Yagman, a famously combative lawyer who often challenges the LAPD, had proposed to question Riordan with reporters present, and at the outset of Thursday’s session argued for an open interrogation.

“It’s my position that this is a public proceeding,” Yagman said.

Riordan did not directly indicate that he was opposed to reporters sitting in on the deposition. But after consulting with Riordan, the mayor’s lawyer, Skip Miller, objected to the reporters’ presence and asked a special master presiding over the deposition to close the meeting.

The special master agreed, complaining to the lawyers: “Why do you guys put me in this position?”

Afterward, Noelia Rodriguez, the mayor’s press secretary, would say only that Riordan “didn’t want it [open to the press]. He doesn’t think it’s right. He didn’t elaborate.”

After reporters were ejected from the session, it went forward as scheduled. Riordan, himself a lawyer--though of a very different style than his questioner--was perched at the end of a long conference table. Two video cameras and a host of lawyers were on hand for the deposition, which lasted for more than an hour.

Even before the questioning, sparks flew. Riordan, who entered the meeting chatting and shaking hands with those present, told a joke, observers said, causing Yagman to accuse the mayor of not taking the deposition seriously. That set a combative tone for the proceedings, which dragged on through much of the morning.

At the meeting’s conclusion, Riordan emerged to say that he had fulfilled his responsibilities, but regretted that he had to spend valuable time being questioned in a case in which he thought he had little relevant information to offer.

Others familiar with the testimony said Yagman pressed Riordan on the mayor’s credibility, suggesting that Riordan could not be entirely trusted to tell the truth. That line of questioning angered the mayor, sources said.

Afterward, Riordan acknowledged that Yagman had stung him with questions about his honesty, but dismissed their seriousness.

“This is just game playing,” the mayor said.

According to Yagman, the mayor was asked to submit to a deposition because Yagman wanted to know how much Riordan knew about the Police Department and how much authority he has over its operations. In addition, Yagman said, he wanted to hear Riordan describe his role in deciding whether the city should cover punitive damage awards returned against police officers.

The mayor’s lawyer, Miller, said Riordan responded to those questions by noting that his role in settling lawsuits is ministerial and that the real authority for that task rests with the City Council.

“The whole deposition was fine,” Miller said. “It was mostly a waste of time.”

For his part, Yagman described the mayor’s testimony as “just what I expected.”

Depositions are continuing in the case, with council members, current and former police commissioners and others being asked to give sworn testimony.