A Los Angeles Police Division officer who accused ex-Mayor Eric Garcetti’s former senior advisor Rick Jacobs of sexual harassment has tentatively agreed to settle his lawsuit with town, in keeping with court docket paperwork.
Attorneys for Matthew Garza, a Metropolitan Division officer assigned to Garcetti’s safety element for a decade, filed paperwork on Thursday saying a tentative settlement has been reached within the case that endangered the previous mayor’s political future and revealed widespread allegations of misconduct in opposition to Jacobs, a strong political fixer and key aide to Garcetti.
On Friday, Los Angeles Superior Courtroom Choose Curtis A. Kin, knowledgeable of a “conditional’’ decision of the case, canceled the scheduled Sept. 5 begin of the trial. Any settlement involving a major sum of money would wish Metropolis Council approval.
Legal professional Greg Smith, who represents Garza, declined to remark. Usually such settlements are reached between town legal professionals and the plaintiff’s legal professionals after which authorized by the council. Representatives for Jacobs and Metropolis Atty. Hydee Soto Feldstein didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The veteran police officer sued in July 2020, alleging intercourse and gender harassment, alleging that Jacobs subjected him to tight hugs, shoulder rubs and a plethora of undesirable and unwelcome sexual feedback from 2014 to 2019.
Garcetti witnessed among the habits however didn’t intervene, Garza’s lawsuit alleges.
Jacobs denied harassing anybody.
Garcetti, now U.S. ambassador to India, denied he condoned any misconduct, saying that he would have acted promptly if he had been knowledgeable of an issue. In a deposition, he insisted he by no means witnessed any of the conduct.
The questions over what Garcetti might need recognized led Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) to launch an investigation. The investigation discovered that Garcetti “doubtless knew or ought to have recognized that Rick Jacobs was sexually harassing a number of people and making racist feedback in direction of others.”
In the meantime, a report ordered by town legal professional’s workplace to assist in its protection of the Garza case concluded that Garza was not sexually harassed by Jacobs and that Garcetti did nothing improper.
A sworn LAPD officer since 1997, Garza started engaged on Garcetti’s safety element in October 2013. He alleged Jacobs would lengthen his hand for a purported handshake, however then pull Garza towards him to present a “lengthy, tight hug,” whereas concurrently saying, “I really like me my robust LAPD officers” or another “inappropriate remark,” in keeping with the swimsuit.
One of many mayor’s former communications administrators, Naomi Seligman, testified that she complained about Jacobs’ alleged misconduct to Garcetti’s onetime chief of workers, Ana Guerrero. She stated nothing was ever carried out about it. Guerrero denies that she was ever instructed.
One other former communication director, Suzi Emmerling, testified in a deposition in June 2021 that after Garza’s lawsuit was filed, three folks confided in her that they’d additionally been handled the identical manner by Jacobs that Garza alleged he was handled.
Garcetti, in his personal deposition, denied that he witnessed Jacobs inappropriately contact Garza and denied that he heard Jacobs discuss explicitly about intercourse, saying such habits can be “fully out of character” for Jacobs.
Garcetti was additionally proven a photograph that appeared in The Instances of Jacobs inserting his hand close to the crotch of a person as the 2 posed for a gaggle picture at a conference in Miami in 2017. Garcetti stands subsequent to the 2 males and others, smiling and giving a double thumbs-up gesture.
Requested to clarify why his former aide made the gesture, the mayor replied: “No. You’d must ask Mr. Jacobs.”
Garcetti added he “completely” didn’t see the gesture on the time.
Jacobs has known as his lawsuit “a piece of pure fiction.” Jacobs raised tens of millions of {dollars} in assist of Garcetti’s 2013 mayoral marketing campaign and was a high Metropolis Corridor deputy earlier than stepping down in 2016. He continued to work as a political advisor for Garcetti and helped run two nonprofits related to the mayor till stepping away from these roles.
