Daily Journal Names $10.1M Discrimination & Retaliation Judgment Against LAPD to Top Verdicts 2023 List
Partner Matthew McNicholas and Senior Lawyer Douglas Winter’s $10.1 million jury verdict on behalf of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Captain Stacey Vince was recognized among Daily Journal’s list of Top Verdicts for 2023.
Vince’s husband, Lou Vince, was also a Lieutenant in the LAPD. In 2018, he sued the Department and the City of Los Angeles for disability discrimination. During that time, a Deputy Chief told him that if he pursued the litigation, it would be “bad for your career and your wife’s career.”
When the Deputy Chief became Stacey’s supervisor in 2019, she complained about the discrimination against her husband. The Deputy Chief shunned Stacey and said he could not work with her. Then he transferred her to a much less prestigious position where she supervised four people, whereas previously, she helped oversee 3,000. Stacey was ultimately forced to retire from the Department.
“At the police academy, they didn’t even have an office for her,” McNicholas told Daily Journal. “They put her in some storage room that didn’t have internet.”
Winter explained that the transfer was a significant adverse employment action. “A commander in the detective bureau even filed an internal complaint against the new Deputy Chief over his retaliation against [Stacey] Vince,” he said.
Another important event leading up to both Stacey and Lou’s lawsuits was the discovery by a civilian employee of a secret file that tracked Lou’s activities and problems in the Department.
“In our litigation, we asked about it, and sure enough, there was a concession that such a file existed but that it had been destroyed,” Winter commented.
Each year, Daily Journal publishes a list of California’s top verdicts by dollar, impact, defense victories and appellate reversals.
Read the full story here. (Subscription required)
