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Carona’s attempt to dismiss Hunt lawsuit fails
October 5th, 2007, 8:18 am · 13 Comments · posted by Peggy Lowe
Looks like former Lt. Bill Hunt’s federal lawsuit against Sheriff Mike Carona will move forward. Received a press release this morning from Hunt’s L.A. law firm saying a judge denied Carona’s motion to dismiss the case. Click below for the release.
– Peggy Lowe
Silver, Hadden, Silver, Wexler & Levine
For Immediate Release Contact: Eric W. Rose
October 5 2007 (805) 624-00572
FEDERAL COURT DENIES SHERIFF CARONA’S MOTION TO DISMISS
WILLIAM HUNT’S FIRST AMENDMENT CLAIM
Los Angeles – On June 18, 2007 the Law Firm of Silver, Hadden, Silver, Wexler & Levine of Santa Monica filed suit in the United States District Court, Central District of California, asking that Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona be held accountable for abuse of office and for interfering with the constitutionally protected free speech of Orange County Sheriff’s Lieutenant William Hunt.
In response to this filing, Sheriff Carona asked the Court to dismiss Lt .Hunt’s complaint. On October 1, 2007 the United Stated District Court, Central District of California denied Sheriff Carona’s motion to dismiss Lt. Hunt’s First Amendment claim, paving the way for the case to move forward to trial.
“The lawsuit asserts that during the course of the 2005-2006 campaign for the office of Orange County Sheriff-Coroner, Lt. Hunt made public statements, radio addresses, and disseminated campaign literature critical of Carona’s performance as Sheriff. It further asserts that as a result of that constitutionally protected exercise of free speech, Lt. Hunt was subjected to a demotion in rank from Lieutenant to Deputy Sheriff II and the loss of his assignment as Police Services Chief for the City of San Clemente” said Richard A. Levine, an attorney representing Lt. Hunt.
The demotion resulted in a salary reduction, diminution of monetary benefits and other conditions of employment, reduction of prospective retirement compensation, in addition to the personal and professional humiliation and indignity resulting from the demotion and removal from of his duties as Police Services Chief for the City of San Clemente. According to the lawsuit, Sheriff Carona’s unlawful political retaliation created intolerable and discriminatory working conditions constituting constructive discharge by resignation on December 22, 2006 resulting in the aggravation of monetary damages in excess of $72,979.00 per year.
The suit seeks compensatory damages for violation of Hunt’s constitutional and statutory rights, including humiliation, indignity, and loss of professional and personal reputation. The lawsuit also seeks injunctive relief to restore Plaintiff to his rightful position as Lieutenant in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and restoration to his assignment as Police Services Chief for the City of San Clemente. A copy of the complaint is available upon request.
Case Background:
On June 7, 2006, one day after the election, Sheriff Carona placed Lt. Hunt on administrative leave pending a personnel investigation into his speech and conduct during the election campaign. On October 31, 2006, Sheriff Carona caused to be served on Lt. Hunt a Notice of Pending Demotion which proposed to demote him from Lieutenant to Deputy Sheriff II based on the content of Hunt’s campaign communications, which it alleged were in violation of the Department’s Manual of Rules and Regulations.
On December 22, 2006, Sheriff Carona caused to serve Lt. Hunt with a Notice of Demotion, demoting him from Lieutenant to Deputy Sheriff II effective December 26, 2006. This was a 3 rank demotion. The notice also ended Lt. Hunt’s assignment as Police Services Chief for the City of San Clemente.
During his tenure as a Lieutenant, Hunt’s performance was consistently rated as satisfactory by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Moreover, he received commendations from community leaders and members of the public, including a resolution adopted on June 12, 2006 by the City Council of the City of San Clemente recognizing Lt. Hunt as an “exemplary representative of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and has done an exceptional job of supervising law enforcement activities for the City of San Clemente.”
By way of further background, on July 12, 1985, William Hunt began working as a Deputy Sheriff for Orange County. In August, 1993, Hunt was promoted to Investigator and in March, 1996 Hunt was promoted to Sergeant. In July 2002, Hunt was promoted to Lieutenant and on May 16, 2003 was assigned as the Police Services Chief for the City of San Clemente. In the election held June 6, 2006, Lt. Hunt received 26.5% of votes to Sheriff Carona’s 50.9% of votes
Silver, Hadden, Silver, Wexler & Levine has aggressively represented the interests of public safety employees for over 35 years. The firm provides legal defense for public employees and contract negotiations for over 100 Associations.
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DENA BUNIS, Washington bureau chief, 202-628-6381 or dbunis@ocregister.com
BRIAN JOSEPH, Sacramento correspondent, 916-449-6046 or bjoseph@ocregister.com
JENNIFER MUIR, County government reporter, 714-796-7813 or jmuir@ocregister.com
JOEL WALSH, Washington bureau intern, 202-628-6381 or jwalsh@ocregister.com
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Good for Hunt. I had voted for Carona when he was originally elected, but he has turned out to be somewhat less than as honest and ‘libertarian’ minded than he claimed when he originally ran. He has made multiple decisions or policies that are counter to what he claims to have stood for. It seems that being in office has completely corrupted Carona.
During the Hunt-Carona campaign, I had Law Enforcement friends who knew Hunt and who were supporting Hunt, and I too supported replacing Carona with Hunt.
The whole demotion thing was clearly political payback, showing that Carona is a vindictive, petulant bully…which is not what we elected him to do.
i work for ocda. the people here don’t have much respect for corona.
I am the daughter of a retired OCSD Sargeant and I NEVER wanted Carona in office. He was not a cop, he was a Bailiff. Serving subpoenas and guarding the courtroom are hardly qualifications for a Sheriff. His cronyism damaged the reputation of our formerly MUCH respected Sheriff’s department. He is an embarrassment to this county. Lt Hunt was an excellent Deputy and he earned the love and respect of San Clemente by being involved in our community. Not one major event occurred without having his presence at some point. He led an excellent department and he is missed. That in no way diminishes the job that our current Lieutenant is doing, because he has carried on the policies and procedures. I voted for Hunt and I would do so again. I hope he prevails against this obvious vindictive act by Carona.
Folks, let’s not forget the bean dipping down in San Juan Capistrano.
As I recall, Frank Mickadeit offered to publish the real reason Hunt was demoted, but he declined to open up his file. By law the Sheriff cannot release the record, but Hunt can. So the truth of the matter is that nobody here knows the real reason he was demoted all the way down to Deputy from Lieutenant.
If Hunt’s attorneys want to put out a press release, why not put out the specific reasons the department gave for the demotion? I’ll bet there’s more there than meets the eye.
All you need to do is dig a little deeper and you’ll find out Hunt wasn’t the only deputy to be demoted after the election. There were others that were denied promotions and even demoted for their support of Hunt. Only after they realized the backlash this would cause, did the Corona crusaders reconsider those persons positions with the department; eventually even promoting one, who was previously demoted post election, to the Chief of Police in another South County city. Backpedaling at it’s finest if you ask me.
Sheriff Carona made a decision to remove Lt. Hunt from a “management position” within the department. This is the same that any executive would do if one of his/her management team were bashing him/her in public. Hunt had lost the ability to oversee Carona’s management plan for the department based upon his actions in the campaign. Hunt was thus demoted to a non management position - whereby he could still serve as a peace officer but not in any sort of supervisory capacity. Think about it…if you were a manager publicly trashing your CEO, how long do you think you’d be employed? In Hunt’s case, he wasn’t dismissed; he was simply removed from management.
Too bad Mikey doesn’t have any mob ties on the Supreme Court.
Huzzah!!!
The real reason Lt. Hunt got in to this mess is because of how he handled the Greg Haidl case and the shenanigans (aka cover up) he played when the Haidl kid was found in possession of marijuana while on trial for gang rape. That is also another reason why a couple of other Undersheriffs are no longer with the department. If you don’t know what I am talking about, then look it up. It’s an interesting conversation they have on tape. (George Jaramillo, Don Haidl). Sheriff Corona waited until after the elections to place him on leave because he didn’t want it to effect the election.
Hey Captain America, check your facts. Hunt’s involvement in the Jaramillo, Haidl “cover up”, which Carona completely knew about, took place in October 2003. It wouldn’t need to wait until after the election to demote him if that was the basis.
Sheriff Carona got himself into this mess, and only him. Time to pay the piper. Cannot wait to see how he gets out of this one. He who cast the first stone I always say. See where it gets yeah. I have always had faith in Lt. Hunt that is no big secret, and I always will. Sad to think the county it going to get hit hard because of Sheriff Carona’s pride. (Allegedly of course)
Karen A Finn
Police Officers Wife
Mr. Mike Schroeder you hold no ground here. I have seen how you duck and hide. I think you need a reality check. I also think you really believe you are a lawyer that always wins. Well here is a tip for yeah!
I have seen how mean you can be in real life to people and you just lost this one in here. I watched you get a Re-Vote for Sheriff Carona when he lost the Republican backing the first round. So please do not be so holier than thou. You are just another lawyer.
Karen A Finn
Police Officers Wife
We must not confuse Dissent with Disloyalty.
Hunt spoke up against what he and others felt was unethical, unproductive leadership, all the time remaining loyal…not to an individual but to his oath and allegiance to the constitution he swore to uphold. The same constitution written by those whose dissent was to another unethical, unproductive group of political leaders. Thank God they prevailed.