Ex-Jurist’s Lawsuit Alleges Wrongful Termination

A former court commissioner who was fired during a controversy over her practice of jailing traffic court defendants she suspected of lying has sued the county, alleging presiding Glendale Municipal Court Judge James R. Simpson ordered her to fix traffic tickets for friends.

Dona Bracke, 46, claimed in the wrongful-termination lawsuit that she was fired for refusing to fix traffic tickets for Simpson’s friends and colleagues.

Simpson declined comment on advice of counsel.

“I wish I could speak up, but my attorney told me not to,” Simpson said.

Neither he nor the county had yet been served with the lawsuit by Monday afternoon, according to Bracke’s lawyer. A county spokeswoman said she had no information on the suit, and the county counsel’s office had no comment.

Bracke, a former Los Angeles county deputy district attorney, was fired Dec. 11, 1998, after eight years on the bench. Her suspension and firing followed complaints over the perjury charges..

“This woman was railroaded,” said Sherman Oaks attorney Diane Goldman, who filed the lawsuit for Bracke on Dec. 13. “When was the last time you ever heard of a judge being fired--even for a violation of a clear standard?”

Goldman said the perjury issue was simply used as a pretext by Simpson, who she said was looking for an excuse to fire the veteran commissioner.

Goldman said Simpson on two occasions asked Bracke to break the law, requesting she fix a ticket for a nonlawyer whom Simpson knew and to “take care of a ticket” for a colleague. Bracke refused, Goldman said.

Goldman would not identify the people who allegedly would have benefited, nor specify when the incidents occurred. She said Bracke had no written proof but that the charges will be borne out by testimony.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert B. Werner, who supervises felony matters in Glendale, said his office has never received any complaints from Bracke about requests to fix tickets. Such allegations, if true, would constitute obstruction of justice and his office would be the proper place for such allegations to be brought.

Victoria Henley, a spokeswoman for the Counsel on Judicial Performance, said she cannot confirm or deny whether an investigation of such allegations is ongoing, but she said Simpson has never been publicly disciplined or been the subject of formal proceedings for this or any other matter.

Beginning in November 1997, dozens of defendants who appeared before Bracke to pay traffic tickets were jailed and later charged with felony perjury after allegedly lying about having car insurance, supposedly to avoid a $1,300 fine for first-time offenders enacted in January 1997.

When Bracke suspected fraud, police and lawyers said, she routinely called a defendant’s insurance company--or had her bailiff do so--to verify whether that person was insured.

Many were arrested and jailed on the spot on either suspicion of perjury or the lesser offense of presenting false documents.

Some lawyers, police officers and the head deputy district attorney in Glendale defended her crackdown, saying Bracke did nothing more than follow the letter of the law.

Others, including the head of the county public defender’s office in Glendale, other defense lawyers and a Superior Court judge, accused Bracke of overstepping her legal authority. Some said her private telephone calls denied the defendants the ability to cross-examine their accusers, making them illegal “ex parte communication.”

At least two of the cases were later thrown out, however, when it was learned that the insurance companies gave the court incorrect information during those phone calls.

Goldman, Bracke’s lawyer, said her fellow judges were told in weekly judicial meetings how Bracke was handling proof-of-insurance and perjury issues.

She said it was never a problem until the court received a written complaint from a defendant, and that even then she was given the option to continue the practice. But Bracke stopped the phone calls from the bench, Goldman said.

After she was fired, Bracke moved with her two children to Washington state to be close to relatives, Goldman said, and because she felt her job prospects in Los Angeles were nil.

Bracke alleged wrongful termination, breach of contract, unfair employment practices and infliction of emotional distress. She sought compensation for loss of wages and diminished earning capacity, punitive damages, unspecified damages for loss to her reputation, interest and attorney’s fees and costs.

“Now she’s without a livelihood,” Goldman said. “She’s been fired and her ability to earn a living and support her children has been destroyed.”