A judge Thursday dismissed portions of a lawsuit filed against the city of Los Angeles by a camp ranger who said he alerted authorities to the whereabouts of rogue ex-LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner and sought more than $1 million in reward money.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Fahey tossed Richard Heltebrake’s claims that the city put its interests ahead of his and that his constitutional rights were violated.
“I don’t think these are properly pleaded and I don’t know how they possibly could be,” Fahey said.
However, Fahey denied the city’s motion to also dismiss Heltebrake’s claims for breach of contract, civil rights violations and for a declaration of rights between the parties.
Fahey’s rulings came seven months after a three-justice panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal panel unanimously reversed Judge Elizabeth Allen White’s ruling dismissing all claims against the city of Los Angeles and the county of Riverside. White said the claims against the city of Los Angeles and Riverside County infringed on “protected activities.” The appeals court upheld White’s ruling dismissing the city of Riverside as a defendant.
Heltebrake maintains in a lawsuit filed in April 2013 that he is entitled to all of the more than $1 million in multi- agency rewards because his 911 call put authorities on the trail that eventually led to Dorner.
The city of Irvine also was sued by Heltebrake. His attorneys filed court papers removing White from the case after the appellate court rulings.
Deputy City Attorney Gabriel Dermer told Fahey that the City Council’s offer of a reward in the Dorner case did not create a contract with anyone and that it was within its members’ discretion whether to pay it. He said the city’s power to enter contracts is controlled by its charter.
However, Fahey noted that then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa publicly said there was a reward for Dorner’s capture.
Heltebrake’s attorney, Gordon Stuart, said all the requirements for creating a contract under the city charter were met. He said after the hearing he was disappointed that Heltebrake’s due constitutional rights claim was dismissed.
Dorner, who lived with his mother in La Palma, promised warfare on LAPD officers and their families for what he believed was his unjustified firing. The 33-year-old Navy reserve officer killed four people during his nearly one- week run from authorities in 2013.
Dorner died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during a stand-off with police at a cabin in the the unincorporated San Bernardino Mountains community of Angelus Oaks.
The legal tangle over the reward is further complicated by a decision in May 2013 of a panel of three retired judges appointed to make a final determination about the money.
The judges found that 80 percent of the money should go to a couple who were bound and gagged by Dorner in their Big Bear cabin. The panel also recommended that a ski resort employee be awarded 15 percent and a tow truck driver 5 percent. Heltebrake was not entitled to any of the money, according to the retired judges.
— Wire reports