Former Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, who was appointed to the job in 2021 by then-mayor Libby Schaaf, faced another major legal setback after a state judge tossed out his lawsuit against Oakland last week.
Armstrong sued Oakland last year, alleging the city and then-Mayor Sheng Thao fired him in February 2023 in retaliation for speaking out against Robert Warshaw, the federal monitor who oversees the police department. Armstrong’s lawsuit also accused Thao of violating his First Amendment rights. A federal judge dismissed Armstrong’s First Amendment claims last November and sent the remainder of the claims to state court to decide whether the city’s leaders violated labor laws.
California Superior Court Judge Peter Borkon threw out the rest of Armstrong’s case on Oct. 16 after the city objected to it through a demurrer.
Borkon wrote in his ruling that Armstrong’s complaints against the city “do not rise to the level of whistleblower violations for two reasons.”
First, the judge wrote, Armstrong’s claim of whistleblower retaliation relied entirely on an alleged Jan. 19, 2023, conversation between Armstrong, Thao, and then-City Administrator Ed Reiskin. However, Armstrong’s lawsuit failed to “clearly allege” what was said during this discussion.
Second, Armstrong accused OPD’s federal monitor, Rober Warshaw, of fraud, but the lawsuit “fails to include any details” that explain how a fraud was committed. The other laws Armstrong accused Warshaw of violating are...
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