A lawsuit filed by a now-retired member of the Los Angeles County Fire Department who alleges he was denied a promotion in 2023 because he was white and considered too old at 54 should be dismissed, county attorneys argue in new court papers.
Former Assistant Chief Frank Forman’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges age and ethnic discrimination as well as failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and/or retaliation. On Jan. 27, county lawyers filed court papers with Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis in advance of an April 30 hearing contending that there are no triable issues.
“There is absolutely no evidence of discriminatory animus with respect to plaintiff’s ethnicity and/or race,” county attorneys state in their pleadings, noting that 43% of the applicants were Caucasian and 40% of those appointed were of that race.
Candidates both younger and older than Forman were selected during the recruitment, according to the county attorneys’ pleadings.
According to the suit, Forman was hired in October 1991, became an assistant chief in 2021 and had a good record as an upper-level manager.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone, during a March 2023 operations staff meeting, told Forman and all others present that the department would promote women and people of color, the suit alleges.
“Some will be happy and others who are more qualified will not be happy,” Marrone allegedly said while looking at Forman.
Marrone’s comment was clear that women and people of color would be promoted “for the look” at the department, the suit filed in September 2024 states.
Forman applied for a deputy fire chief position that same month, and the plaintiff was given a first interview in June 2023, according to the suit. But Forman was not given a second interview, and he was not promoted when the new deputy chief selections were announced last November with non-white men getting the majority of the promotions, the suit states.
But in their court papers, county attorneys state that the first round of interviews was conducted by three panelists from outside the Fire Department and Forman was ranked sixth out of seven applicants.
Only the top five applicants advanced to the second round of interviews with Marrone, so the chief was therefore never given the opportunity to interview or select the plaintiff given his first round low score, the county attorneys further state in their court papers.
“There is no evidence that the three (outside) panelists had any discriminatory animus,” the county lawyers contend in their pleadings.
Even if Forman could prove discrimination, there were legitimate business reasons the department chose to appoint other applicants, according to the county attorneys’ court papers, which further note that Forman retired in February 2025.