POLICE —Rampart Payouts Less Than Expected

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Now that the key informant of the LAPD Rampart scandal has been released from prison, the long-predicted flood of lawsuits spawned by the case is unlikely to materialize.

Officials initially estimated $125 million in costs associated with lawsuits against the city from wrongfully convicted people. Others projected up to $1 billion.

But so far, the city has received 157 cases related to the Rampart scandal that have cost $32 million. Of the suits, 47 have been settled and 12 dismissed, according to assistant city attorney Paul Paquette.

Of the $32 million already paid, $15 million of it was from a single case, against Javier Francisco Ovando, whose settlement amount is unlikely to be repeated, he said.

The rest have been in a holding pattern since September 2000, when U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess ordered a stay on the cases that has yet to be lifted.

Given the cost history, and the fact that most future cases will settle for less than $15 million, the total could be less than $60 million, Paquette said.

“There was a vast overexaggeration to start things out,” said Browne Greene, a trial lawyer with Greene Broilett Taylor Wheeler and Panish LLP in Century City who represents a black surgeon from Florida who was recently handcuffed and brought to the Rampart division without cause. “They thought Rafael Perez being on the L.A. Times front page every day would, with reason, bring a ground swell of potential cases beyond those initially found. I don’t think that’s happened yet, but we still don’t know.”

On July 23, Rafael Perez, the former Los Angeles Police Department officer who admitted to dealing drugs, arresting innocent people and shooting an innocent man who now uses a wheelchair, was released from his three-year sentence. The former officer had provided information on additional atrocities committed by other LAPD officers.


Numbers disputed

A few trial attorneys dispute the city’s estimates. Stephen Yagman, a civil rights lawyer with Yagman & Yagman & Reichmann in Venice, said the total number of cases could double from 157 and cost up to $375 million more in the next three years or so. The $1 billion originally anticipated as a high-end mark in costs could still become reality, he said.

Much of his estimate comes from those awaiting trial, but others are from minors, or those under 18, who can file a lawsuit claiming loss of companionship of their convicted parent, he said.

Several attorneys expect the city to bring more cases to trial rather than settle, which could potentially cost more if the city loses, said Gregory Moreno, senior partner at Montebello-based Moreno Becerra Guerrero & Casillas PLC, who represented Ovando and other Rampart victims.

“They’re risking public funds by bringing them to trial,” Moreno said. “They’re hoping these victims will find themselves in dire need and get deported. They’re hoping the problem goes away and the victims get re-incarcerated.”

Trial lawyers also expect the city to delay dealing with the cases, which would stretch the cost out over a longer period of time.

At the heart of the dispute is the outcome of those cases.

“Initially, there was an over-response by the city to try and settle cases and indemnify people before they really got hold of the facts,” said Bill Seki, an attorney with Sherman Oaks-based Mounger Gonda & Seki who defended Nino Durden, a former LAPD officer and ex-partner of Perez.

Durden pleaded guilty to federal charges and is awaiting sentencing. “Once they became aware of the facts through a number of these administrative hearings and the criminal cases, they realized that the perceived problems aren’t as big as they had originally anticipated it to be,” he said.

Of the 1,500 or so charges brought against LAPD officers through internal disciplinary proceedings, only 14 charges were sustained, Paquette said.

The criminal charges of evidence planting, unlawful shooting and theft of money the type of things Perez claimed were rampant among the department just have not come true, he said.


Eight officers charged

Only eight LAPD officers have been charged with crimes, and Paquette said he doesn’t expect any more.

Still, the city could be underestimating things, since the Rampart scandal illuminated a festering problem within the LAPD and may have forever changed jurors opinions about the police department.

“The reality is if you have 157 cases, that’s still an enormous scandal,” said Greene, who filed his client’s lawsuit a month ago. “If you have one or two brought about by false testimony, that’s still a violation of public trust. For us to say there aren’t thousands (of lawsuits) and they got off light they didn’t get off light. One hundred and fifty seven cases is ultimately going to mean a lot of money.”

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