COURT OVERTURNS
PERSONNEL COMMISSION INCREASE OF OFFICER'S DISCIPLINE
In July 1994, 14 year veteran Huntington Beach Patrol Officer Tom
Lovin observed a red Ferrari with a license plate which read
"L84AD8". Upon running the plates the vehicle came back
registered to Nicole Brown Simpson. Unbeknownst to Lovin, CLETS had
issued a statewide bulletin advising local agencies to stop running that
particular license plate. Lovin, who had been on vacation, had no
knowledge of the order and further claimed he ran the plate only for
police related business. At the conclusion of the investigation Lovins'
supervisor recommended a ten hour suspension. The administration thought
a 40 hour suspension more appropriate.
At the hearing on the matter the hearing officer, Joe Gentile,
decided that the appropriate discipline should have been the ten hours
initially recommended by the first supervisor. However, the Personnel
Board decided to increase the recommendation of the hearing officer and
set the discipline at 20 hours. Officer Lovin sought authorization from
LDF to proceed with a writ to Superior Court and fight the increase and
the discipline itself.
Nearly three years later, In Superior Court, the judge ruled that the
Personnel Commission abused its discretion in increasing the discipline
of Officer Lovin and set the discipline back at the original 10 hours
recommended by his initial supervisor, prior to the intervention of the
administration and Personnel Commission.
Officer Lovin was represented by LDF attorney James E. Trott in
Huntington Beach.
