A jury awarded former Culver City police officer Christie Maddox a split decision last Friday, finding that she was wrongfully terminated three years ago by former Chief John Montanio but declining to give her back her job.
The six-day trial, that included two days of deliberation, left the plaintiff with mixed feelings.
Ms. Maddox badly wanted to don the Culver City uniform she last wore three years ago when she had her final run-in with Mr. Montanio. Weeks later, the chief announced his own departure for a vague federal assignment.
Ms. Maddox’s attorney Joe Scully told the newspaper this afternoon that the 15-year veteran felt vindicated on the one hand, but that she was “disappointed” because she wished the verdict had been reversed.
He called Ms. Maddox “a model employee” swimming with honors. “She would rather be back in uniform than be accepting close to a $300,000 judgment,” Mr. Scully said.
People-watchers at the trial noticed there was no shortage of past and present Culver City chiefs in the courtroom.
Retired Chief Ted Cooke, known to have been close to Ms. Maddux during her tenure, was prepared to testify on her behalf. But the trial judge declined to let the busy retiree take the witness stand.
Worthy of Note
“It would have been mighty unusual,” a source told the newspaper, “if Cooke had been permitted to testify. There is an unwritten rule, an understanding, among police chiefs that you don’t become involved in another chief’s case, or doings, regardless of what he does. They take care of each other, even after they retire.”
“You don’t talk badly about fellow chiefs, either.”
In the context of Mr. Cooke’s colorful universe, the source said, “perhaps the desire to testify was not so unusual because when he was here officers regularly passed in and out of favor with him. “
That Mr. Cooke would be willing to testify against Mr. Montanio, his onetime golden boy/protégé, shows how their relationship has unraveled, the source said, since the elder chief retired and the younger chief left town.
Current Police Chief Don Pedersen was a regular each day of the trial in the audience seats, observing Ms. Maddox who was canned a little less than a year before he moved here from Signal Hill.
An Old Injury Returns
Ms. Maddox injured her back during the Rodney King riots in 1992, her third year with the Culver City department. By ’05, her lame back had become an issue, and she filed for a disability retirement. Here is where strands of the story become hazy.
Mr. Scully said the department told the officer that her application had been accepted. The department maintained that Ms. Maddox had resigned.
“Nobody set out to do evil,” Mr. Scully said. “But it looks to me as if there was a little funny business going on with the department.”
The jury let it go at simply ruling that the former officer — whose husband, Lt. Chris Maddox remains with the department — was wrongfully discharged.
In any event, Ms. Maddox is out, and has lost about $1 million in pension benefits, according to Mr. Scully.