The city has agreed to pay Hermosa Beach Police Officer Todd Lewitt $137,500, and to purge his internal-affairs files to settle a lawsuit he filed after he was wrongly terminated in 2005, his attorney said. Lewitt since has been reinstated to active duty.
In addition, the city must pay Lewitt $20,000 by Sept. 13 “based on the city’s attempt to alter the terms and conditions of the original settlement reached on the record before the federal court,” attorney Corey Glave said.
The city already had paid $400,000 to Lewitt for lost wages and benefits, and interest on the lost wages, Glave said.
Lewitt has maintained that he was fired for outspoken criticism of police and city management.
An attorney for the city, Melanie Poturica, said the settlement was “purely financial” and was favored by the insurance pool in which Hermosa takes part.
Poturica pointed out that the city had won previous judgments in the case. A federal judge in May dismissed Lewitt’s claims that city officials violated his rights to free speech and due process, but let stand his claim that he was wrongly fired in retaliation for his criticisms of city management.
“We won most of the case on summary judgment,” Poturica said.
“They paid out money for attorneys, they paid damages, I don’t see that as a victory,” Glave countered. “[Lewitt] was paid $400,000 in back wages and interest, and $137,500 in damages.”
Lewitt was fired by then-Police Chief Michael Lavin in November 2005 after Lewitt was accused of trying to sneak a loaded handgun past security at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. A hearing officer for the Civil Service Commission in 2006 determined that the accusation against Lewitt was false, and the full commission unanimously agreed and ordered the officer reinstated.
Lewitt returned to active duty in 2008, after winning a separate courtroom battle over the Police Department’s attempt to require fresh medical and psychological examinations of him.
Superior Court Judge Cary Nishimoto found that “Hermosa Beach failed to demonstrate that the California Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training requires that police officers who are fired and reinstated ‘must undergo a background investigation.’” ER
