Riske v. Superior Court

Riske v. Superior Court (CA2/7 B283035 4/16/18) Retaliation/Peace Officer Personnel Records

Robert Riske, a retired Los Angeles police officer, sued the City of Los Angeles alleging the Los Angeles Police Department had retaliated against him for protected whistleblower activity by failing to assign or promote him to several positions and selecting instead less qualified candidates.  Riske filed a discovery motion pursuant to Evidence Code sections 1043 and 1045 to obtain certain summary personnel records relied on by the City in making assignment and promotion decisions.  After the superior court erroneously ruled those records were not subject to discovery because the officers selected for the positions Riske sought were innocent third parties who had not witnessed or caused Riske’s injury, we issued a writ of mandate directing the superior court to vacate its order denying Riske’s discovery motion and to enter a new order directing the City to produce those records for an in camera inspection in accordance with section 1045.  (See Riske v. Superior Court (2016) 6 Cal.App.5th 647, 664-665 (Riske I).)

The superior court conducted the in camera hearing and ordered the requested personnel records to be produced in accordance with the parties’ protective order.  However, pursuant to section 1045, subdivision (b)(1), which excludes from disclosure “[i]nformation consisting of complaints concerning conduct occurring more than five years before the event or transaction that is the subject of the litigation” in which discovery or disclosure is sought, the court ordered redaction of all items in those reports concerning conduct that had occurred more than five years before Riske filed his complaint.

Riske again petitioned this court for a writ of mandate directing the superior court to order the City to produce those records without redaction.  In response to our inquiry, both Riske and the City agree that, if section 1045, subdivision (b)’s five-year disclosure bar applies at all, it is measured from the date each officer was promoted instead of Riske—the alleged adverse employment action at issue in the litigation—and not the date Riske filed his complaint, as the superior court ruled.  However, Riske also argues more broadly that section 1045, subdivision (b), which prohibits disclosure of stale complaints against police officers, has no application to the personnel reports sought in this case.  We agree and grant the petition.

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