City Settles Decade-Old Suits Over Gender Bias

A 10-year legal battle over widespread sexual harassment and discrimination within the Los Angeles Police Department ended Wednesday when City Council members voted to settle class-action lawsuits for $4.9 million.

Seventeen current and former police officers and civilian employees charged that they had suffered discrimination and harassment as far back as the 1980s. The lawsuits, known collectively as Tipton-Whittingham vs. Los Angeles, gave rise to vast reforms within the department, but resolution had stalled over the issue of attorneys fees and damages. The decision to settle the case followed a recent state Supreme Court ruling against the city.

Among the attorneys and organizations representing the plaintiffs was the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. On Wednesday, its executive director said that she was pleased to hear of the settlement but that the changes the LAPD made in 1997 to correct the problems were just as vital.

“This settlement is very important for those women in the department who’ve been waiting a very long time for a decision,” Ramona Ripston said. “Equally important, though, is that we’ve already achieved a lot. It seems to me that women are now quite successfully integrated into the department.”

One plaintiff had complained that she had suffered bruises from routine fondling by officers; others said they had been passed over for promotions. Others said they had been ridiculed and harassed by fellow officers and internal affairs investigators after reporting problems. Two of the plaintiffs are men.

Of the settlement amount, $3.6 million will be shared by the plaintiffs and $1.25 million will go to their attorneys. Payments to plaintiffs will range from $25,000 to $800,000.

Demands at one point had been as high as $100 million, said City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who was police chief when the reforms were adopted.

“We have to remember, women in the Police Department really did not become a full partner ... until the 1980s, because before that, women were relegated to sergeant at top rank and certain types of jobs,” Parks said. “Many of the women that were in this case ... were the first generation of female officers, and they took the brunt of knocking the door down.”

The case was hung up for years over the issue of payment to lawyers. Because the LAPD adopted a series of reforms without a court order, the city argued that it did not owe a fee that attorneys may claim when they are the catalyst for reform.

Although the city had paid that $1.8-million “catalyst” fee in 1998, it sought a refund.

The state Supreme Court disagreed, so the lawyers will keep the fee plus the $1.25 million in Wednesday’s settlement.

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Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.