Correspondence: complaints against LAPD, 1978-1991, p. 239 |
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iA\£llll%&-l'$
Jury Awards Zinzun $3.83 Million in Suit
Against City and Assistant Police Chief
ByJOHNL. M ITQI ELL
and JANE FRITSCH
TIMES STAFF WRITER
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury
Friday awarded political activist Michael Zinzun $3.83 million in his defamation and civil rights lawsuit against the
City of Los Angeles and Assistant Police
Chief Robert Vernon.
The jury, according to Judge Michael
Berg, said it found "clear and convincing" evidence of malice by Vernon, who
used a department computer to spread
information against Zinzun during a
1989 municipal election in Pasadena.
Berg asked the jury to return to court
Monday to deliberate how much, if any,
punitive damages should be awarded
Zinzun.
The city is obligated to pay Friday's
award, because Vernon is an employee,
but Vernon could be personally liable for
punitive damages.
The verdict in the three-week trial
comes a little more than a month after
the Los Angeles City Council rejected a
settlement offer of $450,000 to compensate the former Black Panther leader
who claimed that his campaign for the
Pasadena Board of Directors, now called
the City Council, was devastated by
Vernon's actions.
Councilwoman Joy Picus called the
size of the award "horrifying" and said
the jury may have been influenced by
"the atmosphere surrounding the Rodney King affair." She said that Vernon
and the city's lawyers handling the case
persuaded council members that the city
had a good chance of winning because
the only documents at issue were readily
•■.. ■ available to the public.
"I'm really shocked because I know
that we were told by Chief Vernon and
the attorneys that they thought their
case was excellent," Picus said.
Mike Quails,, a spokesman for City
Atty. James K. Hahn, called the award
"excessive" and said the case will be
reviewed for possible appeal. "We were
very concerned about this case and
that's why we wanted to settle it,"
Quails said.
City Councilman Zev Yaroslavky, the
chairman of the council's budget and
finance committee, was one of the chief
opponents of the settlement. Several
weeks ago, he said, "If all Chief Vernon
Object Description
| Title | Correspondence: complaints against LAPD, 1978-1991 |
| Description | Newspaper clippings (Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, Los Angeles Daily News, New York Times, Sentinel) and magazine articles (U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek) documenting Los Angeles Police Department misconduct under Chief Daryl F. Gates, 1978-1991, compiled by Irving Kessler and Lynn F. Kessler. Includes: Introduction, Contents, Excessive force, Rodney King, Mexican nationality, Civil rights, Property, Silence, Discrimination, Accountability, Gates intolerance, Recommendations. PART OF A SERIES: Materials in the series fall into one of several categories related to the Independent Commission's work product: (1) Commission meeting materials, which include meeting agendas, work plans, memoranda, and articles about police misconduct that were circulated and reviewed during the Commission's internal meetings; (2) public correspondence, which includes citizen complaints against the LAPD in the form of written testimony, articles, and an audio cassette tape, as well as letters drafted by citizens in support of the LAPD; (3) summaries of interviews held with LAPD officers regarding Departmental procedures and relations; (4) public meeting materials, which include transcripts, supplementary documents, and witness statements that were reviewed at the Commission's public meetings; (5) press releases related to the formation and work product of the Commission; and (6) miscellaneous materials reviewed by the Commission during its study, including LAPD personnel and training manuals, a memorandum of understanding, and messages from the LAPD's Mobile Digital Terminal (MDT) system. |
| Coverage date | 1978/1991 |
| Creator |
Kessler, Irving, compiler Kessler, Lynn F., compiler |
| Publisher (of the original version) | Los Angeles Times; L.A. Weekly; U.S. News & World Report; Los Angeles Daily News; New York Times; Newsweek; Sentinel |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California, USA; Washington, DC, USA; New York, New York, USA |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California |
| Date created | 1991 |
| Date issued | 1978/1991 |
| Type |
texts images |
| Format | 368 p. |
| Format (aat) |
clippings (information artifacts) articles summaries |
| Format (imt) | application/pdf |
| Language | English |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Part of collection | Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, 1991 |
| Series | Independent Commission File List |
| File | Complaints, suggestions, and support |
| Box and folder | box 23, folders 7-9 |
| Provenance | The collection was given to the University of Southern California on July 31, 1991. |
| Rights | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained. |
| Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Repository name | USC Libraries Special Collections |
| Repository address | Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 |
| Repository email | specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Filename | indep-box23-07_09 |
Description
| Title | Correspondence: complaints against LAPD, 1978-1991, p. 239 |
| Format (imt) | image/tiff |
| Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Full text | iA\£llll%&-l'$ Jury Awards Zinzun $3.83 Million in Suit Against City and Assistant Police Chief ByJOHNL. M ITQI ELL and JANE FRITSCH TIMES STAFF WRITER A Los Angeles Superior Court jury Friday awarded political activist Michael Zinzun $3.83 million in his defamation and civil rights lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and Assistant Police Chief Robert Vernon. The jury, according to Judge Michael Berg, said it found "clear and convincing" evidence of malice by Vernon, who used a department computer to spread information against Zinzun during a 1989 municipal election in Pasadena. Berg asked the jury to return to court Monday to deliberate how much, if any, punitive damages should be awarded Zinzun. The city is obligated to pay Friday's award, because Vernon is an employee, but Vernon could be personally liable for punitive damages. The verdict in the three-week trial comes a little more than a month after the Los Angeles City Council rejected a settlement offer of $450,000 to compensate the former Black Panther leader who claimed that his campaign for the Pasadena Board of Directors, now called the City Council, was devastated by Vernon's actions. Councilwoman Joy Picus called the size of the award "horrifying" and said the jury may have been influenced by "the atmosphere surrounding the Rodney King affair." She said that Vernon and the city's lawyers handling the case persuaded council members that the city had a good chance of winning because the only documents at issue were readily •■.. ■ available to the public. "I'm really shocked because I know that we were told by Chief Vernon and the attorneys that they thought their case was excellent," Picus said. Mike Quails,, a spokesman for City Atty. James K. Hahn, called the award "excessive" and said the case will be reviewed for possible appeal. "We were very concerned about this case and that's why we wanted to settle it," Quails said. City Councilman Zev Yaroslavky, the chairman of the council's budget and finance committee, was one of the chief opponents of the settlement. Several weeks ago, he said, "If all Chief Vernon |
| Filename | indep-box23-08-03~19.tif |
| Archival file | Volume77/indep-box23-08-03~19.tif |
