Police Settlement Prompts Calls to End Loophole

Angry that the Los Angeles City Council was left out of the settlement of a controversial LAPD shooting case, council members Laura Chick and Mike Feuer proposed Friday to plug a loophole in the law that allowed the payout.

At the same time, Councilman Joel Wachs said he is exploring whether the settlement can be invalidated, and whether action can be taken against City Atty. James Hahn for circumventing the council.

“It’s unconscionable. It’s a breach of the canon of ethics,” Wachs said. “I am looking at what possible action we can take to invalidate that settlement and hold him accountable.”

Feuer said he doubts the council has the power to invalidate a settlement approved legally in court six months ago.

Hahn denied through a spokesman that he acted improperly.

“The council sets the rules on how settlements are handled, and as the council motion indicates, we have been following those rules,” said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for Hahn.

City rules require every settlement of more than $100,000 to be approved by the City Council. But the city attorney’s office recently resolved the police shooting case for a total of $250,000 by settling with each of the three plaintiffs for less than $100,000.

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Chick said Hahn may technically have been right to settle the case the way he did, but she called the circumvention of the council in such a high-profile, expensive case “deplorable.”

The intent of the city policy, she said, is to give the council the decision if the case exceeds $100,000, even if multiple plaintiffs in the case each receive less than $100,000.

Under the motion, to be considered next week, any settlement of a case that exceeds $100,000 would have to be approved by the council.

“It is important that the full City Council be involved in settlements amounting to significant taxpayer dollars,” Chick said.

The case that sparked the outrage involved a 1997 incident in Studio City in which an undercover LAPD detective shot and killed an off-duty LAPD officer after the two became involved in a traffic dispute.

Det. Frank Lyga said he shot Officer Kevin Gaines after Gaines pointed his gun at him and verbally threatened him. The Los Angeles Police Department ruled the shooting was justified, but the case embarrassed the city and had racial implications, because Gaines was African American and Lyga is white.

Hahn agreed to pay Gaines’ widow and the couple’s two daughters less than $100,000 each, for a total payout of $250,000.

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By staying below the threshold, the settlement was approved with the only sign-off coming from Councilman Richard Alatorre, the head of the council’s budget committee.

“I think that Hahn violated the law even as it is now,” Wachs said. “I don’t think the loophole gives him permission to do what he did.”

Wachs said that if a private attorney did the same thing to his clients, he would probably be fired.

“I think it was totally unprofessional,” Wachs said.