CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
A judge has awarded nearly $1.3 million to three black Office of Public Safety officers after finding they were discriminated against in the city’s promotion process.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Czuleger ruled that Mario Patrick, Dennis Wildy and David Bomer were more qualified for the jobs for which they were passed over than the officers who got them.
Czuleger found for the city, however, in similar claims by five other black employees of the office, which provides unarmed security services for parks, beaches, libraries and other city-owned properties.
The three officers had alleged in their 2007 suit that the Office of Public Safety had maintained a policy of not promoting blacks since Chief Gary Newton took office in 2002.
The men will now seek attorneys’ fees and costs from the city, which can appeal the judge’s decision, said Ronald D. Rosengarten, the attorney who represented the men.
A call to the office of Deputy City Atty. James Axtell seeking comment was not returned.
-- Carol J. Williams
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