Appellate Victory - Appellate Court Reverses $6.2 Million Verdict Against City of Los Angeles

The Court of Appeal of the Second Appellate District reversed and remanded a $6.2 million judgment against the City of Los Angeles in a discrimination lawsuit filed by an African-American lesbian firefighter, Brenda Lee. The reversal of the judgment also wiped out the $600,000 attorney fee award to plaintiff's counsel.

Almost all of the damages awarded to plaintiff were pursuant to her claim that she was wrongfully terminated from her job as a firefighter, but plaintiff had not exhausted her administrative remedies as to that claim. She had filed only one charge with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), a year prior to her termination, and in that DFEH charge, plaintiff alleged harassment, discrimination and retaliation by certain named defendants.

The Court of Appeal agreed with the City that plaintiff's failure to exhaust her administrative remedies regarding her termination is a jurisdictional bar to a civil suit on that claim. Rita Gunasekaran handled the appeal for the City.