Letter from California Joint Powers Insurance Authority to the City of Claremont: Mayor Rosenthal.

March 2, 2000

Mayor Karen Rosenthal
CityHail
P.O.Box 880
Claremont, California 91711-0880

 

Re:     Eli Mellor v. City of Claremont, R. Dean, & R. Moody
Richard McKee v. City of Claremont & California JPIA

 

Dear Mayor Rosenthal,

 

I’m writing in regard to the Mellor and McKee cases and comments attributed to City officials that have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Bulletin this past week. The press does misquote and that may have occurred here but the statements taken together indicate a mistaken tone of perception by the City. The purpose of this letter is to clarify.

 

A City press release and the comments quoted by the press included:

 

•        “No city attorneys, staff, or elected officials were involved in the conduct of either case [Meflor and McKee).”

 

•        “It is the CJPIA, not the City Council, refusing to release the information. This has been our position all along. Now the CJPIA cannot come back and say the city has to authorize the release of the terms. I don’t know why they’re stonewalling.”

 

•        “The City doesn’t even have a copy of the settlement terms because the CJPIA, a self-insurance pool serving about 80 cities, has never given the council any documents pertaining to the matter.”

 

Mayor Karen Rosenthal
City of Claremont
March 2, 2000
Page 2 of 3

 

Involvement and Release of Information

 

The City staff has been involved in the Mellor case from the outset, through settlement, and then through the efforts of the press and Mr. McKee to release the settlement agreement. We were told at the beginning of the case about the views of Mr. Mellor and his anti-City stance.

 

City staff’s involvement in the settlement included a request from the Chief of Police that we include Section 12 of the release agreement. That is a provision that is of no consequence to the CJPIA, but we included it as an accommodation to the City. It requires Mr. Mellor to “get out of town.” Additionally, the CJPIA issued a statement of regret to Mr. Mellor, with the approval of the Chief of Police, because the Chief did not want to issue one in order to settle the case.

 

The case was settled because the federal magistrate informed the parties of his perception that a jury might look unfavorably upon some of the actions of the police officers involved with Mr. Mellor. That is not proof that the officers acted irresponsibly, but it added risk to a thai, indicated what the magisirate’s view might be, and led to an economic decision to settle. In fact, the magistrate said he would order the CJPIA to pay all of Mr. Mellor’s attorney’s fees if Mr. Mellor were to be awarded even $1 in damages in this civil rights case. That too was a consideration in settlement. Settlement was not a negative comment on the actions of the police officers involved, but an economic decision.

 

Early on, the Claremont Courier attempted to obtain a copy of the Mellor settlement agreement. The agreement had been sealed by the magistrate, so it could not be released without his approval. On numerous occasions, in writing to the City, Mr. Grossberg, counsel for the City, suggested going back into court to request that the agreement be unsealed. The City staff did not want to do that.

 

At one point, Glenn Southard and Mr. McKee met to discuss release of the agreement. Glenn suggested that Mr. McKee obtain thc cooperation of Mr. Mellor for a joint petition to the federal court to unseal the settlement. Subsequently, Mr. Mellor’s attorney said they would join in that effort if certain conditions were met, including a statement from the City Manager detailing his involvement in matters relating to Mellor and The Time Is Now Group during July 1995. That was, understandably, not acceptable to Glenn, so we did not proceed with a petition.

 

For nearly two years now, the CJPIA has been trying to accommodate what we thought were the City’s wishes with regard to unsealing the settlement. We have

 

Mayor Karen Rosenthal
March. 2, 2000
Page 3 of 3

 

spent CJPIA funds to accommodate the City when we had nothing to gain from a sealed settlement. To my knowledge, we have never requested any settlement to be sealed, We don’t think sealing records In California municipal tort cases complies with the Brown Act, even though the federal court did so in the Mellor case.

 

Disclosure of Settlement Terms

 

The City received a copy of a letter from Mr. Grossberg dated June 10, 1998. outlining all the relevant terms of the settlement agreement. The letter was sent to the City Clerk.

 

The City received a copy of a letter from Mr. Grossberg dated June 15, 1998 stating all the relevant terms of the settlement agreement. The letter was sent to the City Clerk and the Chief of Police.

 

Approximately 6 months ago, the terms of the agreement were again provided to the City via an email Mr. Grossberg sent to Bridget Healy and me. in fact, at that time, it was repeated in an email response that the City did not want to release the agreement.

 

The proposed settlement was discussed with the Chief of Police before it was entered into. We then immediately provided the terms of the settlement agreement to the City. We have no reason to, nor interest in, keeping the terms of a settlement from one of our members.

 

Publicity

 

I have not provided any of this information to the press. nor do I intend to provide it, because I think it would be viewed by them as detrimental to the City and they would use it to continue to keep the Mellor issue alive.

 

I wish you, the other members of the City Council, and the staff much success as you continue to deal with the myriad of complex issues involved with running a city.

 

Sincerely
William Holt
Executive Director

 

 

cc: Councilman Held

Mr. Southard