A judge dismissed a lawsuit by a gay former Los Angeles police officer who alleged she was forced to retire after about 30 years on the job because of discriminatory and retaliatory conduct by her superiors.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Deirdre Hill heard arguments on the city’s motion to toss Sue Herold’s lawsuit on Friday morning. She took the case under submission and granted the motion later in the day.
Lawyers for the city argued that Herold, who joined the LAPD in 1984, could not prove that her sexual orientation played any role in disciplinary actions her bosses took against her. Among the accusations against Herold was that she was involved in vandalism of a desk and that she improperly accessed DMV records of one of her ex-girlfriends.
The defense attorneys also said that Herold’s commanding officers were unaware she participated in a previous lawsuit in 1987 against the city and that the prior legal action did not influence them in their discipline. In the earlier case, Herold was a co-plaintiff with former Sgt. Mitchell Grobeson, the LAPD’s first openly gay officer.
Herold’s involvement in the Grobeson case “caused her to be identified and recognized as an outspoken defender of the rights of gay LAPD officers,” according to Herold’s attorneys’ court papers.
