A whistleblower retaliation lawsuit filed against the city of Los Angeles by two veteran LAPD sworn members should be dismissed because neither of them suffered any adverse employment actions, the City Attorney’s Office contends in new court papers.
Lt. Eric Bixler and Det. Richard Jaramillo filed the complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that a captain and a deputy chief targeted them for being a witness to a Black officer’s complaint that he was picked to be part of Mayor Karen Bass’ bodyguard detail because he, like the mayor, is Black.
But in court papers filed Friday with Judge Teresa Beaudet in advance of a Jan. 23 hearing, lawyers for the City Attorney’s Office argue that the plaintiffs are trying to use the involuntary transfer of two other officers from a prestige unit to form the basis of their own alleged backlash.
“Relying on a transfer of co-workers to form the basis of their own (retaliation) is inviting extreme judicial micromanagement of employment practices,” according to the City Attorney’s Office’s pleadings.
The LAPD’s U.S. Marshals Task Force combines the resources of the Marshals Service with those of the department to locate, arrest and prosecute dangerous and violent criminals in Los Angeles. The local task force is made up of about a dozen 12 LAPD detectives and police officers and one U.S. marshal, all of whom are supervised by Bixler and Jaramillo.
While detectives and others do investigations to identify criminals, the task force is...
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