LOS ANGELES : Council Agrees to Reveal Deliberations in Lawsuit
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The Los Angeles City Council agreed Tuesday to obey a court order to open the record of closed-door deliberations in a lawsuit that could affect future payments of punitive damages for police brutality.
U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts issued the order Monday in a lawsuit that seeks to make council members personally liable for paying punitive damages in excessive force cases.
City Atty. James Hahn hopes that disclosure of the closed-door records will prove that the council does not foster a policy of condoning police brutality.
At the same time, Hahn said he wants to protect the council’s right to continue meeting behind closed doors when they discuss litigation against the city.
Attorney Stephen Yagman filed the federal suit on behalf of the daughter of one of three men killed by police in a shootout after robbing a McDonald’s in Sunland in 1990.
In a lawsuit alleging excessive force, a jury awarded 5-year-old Johanna Trevino $44,000 in punitive damages against ex-Chief Daryl F. Gates and nine officers.
Yagman filed the latest lawsuit after the council, as a matter of routine, voted to spend government funds to cover the damages.
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