California Court of Appeal

In a former police officer's suit against the City of Los Angeles and a commanding officer, for unlawful retaliation and discrimination in violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), and constructive discharge, trial court's grant of plaintiff's motion for a new trial on the ground of juror misconduct as to the discrimination, retaliation and constructive discharge claims, is affirmed in part, vacated and part and dismissed where: 1) the juror's statement during the trial that she had already made up her mind was a "statement of bias"; 2) the juror's prejudgment of the case improperly influenced the verdict; 3) the juror's various comments were not hearsay as they were circumstantial evidence of her bias against the plaintiff; 4) the trial court did not err in refusing to consider the juror's declarations about her intentions; 5) Jones v. Torrey Pines Partnership requires the dismissal of the retaliation claim against the commanding officer as individual liability cannot be imposed under FEHA; and 6) the trial court's order denying plaintiff's request for equitable relief is vacated because once the court granted the motion for a new trial, it lost jurisdiction to enter further substantive orders.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/02/2010
• Published 12/02/2010

Judges

• FLIER

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Theresa M. Traber, Richard R. Terzian