City Seeks to Consolidate Rampart Cases

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office anticipates that 250 to 275 lawsuits will be filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of alleged victims of the Rampart police scandal, prompting the city’s lawyers to seek the federal court’s assistance in consolidating the legal cases.

“The rate of filings is increasing and there has been a dramatic upswing in the number of cases filed over the last several months,” Deputy City Atty. Paul N. Paquette wrote in a letter to the court, a copy of which has been obtained by The Times. Further complicating matters, Paquette noted, the cases are proceeding at a “remarkably slow” pace.

As a result, the city attorney’s office is asking federal court officials to consider consolidating the discovery process.

“It appears that there is great potential for streamlining discovery at least as it relates to supervisory officials, other public officials,” Paquette wrote.

Paquette’s letter--which was sent at the request of the court clerk--was immediately assailed by attorneys representing alleged victims of the Rampart police scandal.

“The court and the city have gotten together to do something that is secretive and inappropriate and potentially benefits the city while adversely affecting all the plaintiffs that are involved,” said attorney Stephen Yagman, who is representing plaintiffs in nearly a dozen cases pending in federal court. “They want to make it as easy for them and as difficult for everyone else as they can.”

Attorney Gregory Yates, who has 18 pending Rampart cases, said that while he agrees that the federal court needs to better coordinate its efforts, the plaintiffs’ attorneys should be included in the discussions.

“I’m concerned that the city will attempt to utilize this in a way that will advantage them,” Yates said. “They are suggesting a process which may violate the rights of the individuals whose civil rights have already been violated.”

However, Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office, said the letter was sent at the request of the Central District Court clerk, Sherri Carter. He said allegation that the city was trying to make an end run around the plaintiffs was ridiculous.

“This letter was sent in direct response to the clerk, who had asked us for our analysis of our cases and our projection of where we are headed,” Qualls said.

Paquette, the deputy city attorney, noted in his letter--which was sent July 19--that 62 Rampart-related cases and an additional 59 claims have been filed against the city. In the last three weeks, those numbers have increased to 65 lawsuits and 69 claims.

“Since virtually all of the claims will at some point be lawsuits and since all of the lawsuits include civil rights allegations, all of these cases will eventually be pending [in federal court],” Paquette wrote.

“Thus, at this point we are virtually certain of 118 cases and based upon our current projections, our best estimate is that there will ultimately be 250-275 Rampart related civil rights cases in this court.”

Paquette also wrote that an “extremely high number” of the cases are represented by three attorneys--Yates, Yagman and Gregory Moreno.

“As such, there is no reason why many of the potential witnesses cannot be deposed just once for each set of attorneys and no reason why other discovery obtained by a group of attorneys in one case could not be used by the same attorneys in their other pending cases,” Paquette added.

The information was expected to be forwarded to the court’s executive committee, which is currently studying the feasibility of assigning Rampart cases to three or four judges, Qualls said.

Attorneys anticipate that a panel of federal court judges will decide in the coming weeks on the best course of action.

The city attorney’s office estimates that Rampart-related settlements could exceed $125 million. The City Council earlier this week approved a $580,000 settlement to a man who was allegedly framed by Rampart officers and served 22 months in prison.