Former Police Sergeant Prevails in Suit

A former Gardena police sergeant who claimed she was repeatedly passed over for promotion because of her gender and then retaliated against when she complained has won $1.65 million in the first ever sex discrimination lawsuit against the department.

The Police Department’s attorney, Linda Daube, said Tuesday that she was disappointed in the ruling and that she will probably recommend to the Gardena City Council that it appeal.

Michael Grobaty, attorney for Dianne Elliott, said the verdict read in court Monday vindicated his 38-year-old client, who now teaches middle school in the Los Angeles area. An eight-man, four-woman jury deliberated for a day and a half before returning the verdict Friday in Torrance Superior Court.

“Dianne told me that, for the first time in many years, her faith in men has been restored,” he said.

That faith had been systematically shattered since 1995, when she began seeking promotion in the 80-officer department to lieutenant, Grobaty said. Elliott had already become the department’s first woman sergeant.

Despite High Marks, She Wasn’t Promoted

Despite exemplary reviews and top test scores, Elliott was repeatedly denied the lieutenant’s post, he said. When she complained about it to her superiors, they began issuing reprimands concerning her job performance. Her supervisors also interrogated Elliott’s subordinates and finally placed her on administrative leave, Grobaty said.

Unable to cope with the stress, Elliott in late November 1999 went out on a temporary disability leave from which she never returned.

Grobaty said the jury award to the 14-year department veteran was justified. “Her psychologist testified . . . that she is like a shattered vase, that you can glue the pieces back together, but she’ll never be the same.”

Daube, however, said Elliott already is compensated for emotional stress through her disability retirement. She said Elliott’s difficulties stemmed from management differences with a new chief, rather than the discrimination and retaliation that she alleged.

“We’re not singling out females or anybody,” she said.