We are encouraged by a Court of Appeal decision this week reinstating the LAPPL’s lawsuit challenging the unfair policy of Chief Beck to issue “involuntary conditional Official Reprimands” to officers accused of disciplinary actions.

Justice Walter Croskey, on behalf of a unanimous panel of justices, agreed with the League’s strongly-held belief that its lawsuit sufficiently stated grounds for injunctive and declaratory relief where the complaint alleged that conditional reprimands violate officers’ rights by imposing “a predetermined minimum disciplinary penalty which will be imposed in the event of a future commission of the same or similar misconduct by the officer.”

The League is adamant that such predetermined discipline violates officers’ state and federal constitutional rights to a fair and impartial hearing, as well as rights guaranteed by state statute and the city’s charter.

Thankfully, the League’s arguments resonated with Justice Croskey who set aside a misguided earlier ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael L. Stern. The Court of Appeal justices also ordered that the City must reimburse the League’s legal costs of the appeal.

We shall continue to use all means available to aggressively protect our members’ legal rights in this and all other cases.