Fullerton Loses Another $1.2Million+ of Your Money to Incompetence
No, not against us… yet. Or against the Rock Wagner family for that Kathryn Hamel created wrongful death nonsense. You know the one, that’s the case that led to Hamel “resigning” and the city illegally dropping their sustained findings against her. Yeah, that’s gonna be a pricey lawsuit as well.
But no, this particular million dollar lawsuit stems from the Fullerton Airport Manager, Brendan O’Reilly, lying about when a hangar contract with former tenant Air Combat ended to illegally take said hangar from them to give it to the City Council favored/connected event company Hangar 21.
The ruling was aired live on Wednesday (no archived footage is available), and it hasn’t been released in writing yet, but for those who watched live were able to witness the jury side with Air Combat. The jury agreed that the City lied about the start/end date of Air Combat’s contract and awarded Air Combat $1.2Million in damages. That number will move around a bit as legal fees and other costs are calculated by the judge but it’s a huge slap in the face for Fullerton taxpayers and another black eye for CIty Hall / City Council.
Chalk one more loss up to Jones & Mayer and our incompetent City Staff. I hope you enjoy continually paying out for this nonsense because more is coming (see above).
It was an obvious case of corruption/incompetence at all levels of City Hall & Council that allowed this to happen and nobody, I repeat nobody, at City Hall is being held accountable for this million dollar loss that was entirely avoidable. And THAT dear Friends is the real reason the City wants to raise your taxes with Measure S – because being responsible with your tax dollars is just too darn hard.
Jones and Mayer is a persistent fuck up. The city should fire them.
And sue for malpractice.
FULLERTON = CROOKS
Maybe the city and its employees should stop lying and cheating. It’s the Republican way I know but it’s expensive.
Republican way? Oh, yeah, that’s right. When a democrat has no better way to argue a point, you have to throw out the “lying Republican” card. Good job, comrade!
You mean its Biden’s way.
This one was called by FFFF commenters three years ago. The termination was illegal and the lease out to Hangar 21 was an illegal zoning use. The Airport Director deliberately misled the chuckleheds on the council who might as well be carved out of oleo.
Another fine mess the “Heart of the City” have gotten us into. Anyhow, mistakes may have been made by somebody, somewhere, somehow, but hindsight is 20/20, let’s move forward in a positive direction and going forward…now about Measure S…
My mistress is not very happy about this post. She always said you don’t get anywhere in Fullerton mean-mouthing staff. And then the broom came down -whack!
But wait, there’s (possibly) more!
Will Air Combat get their hanger back? Will Hanger 21 peacefully move out and give the hanger back to Air Combat? Will Air Combat need to sue to get the hanger back? Will Hanger 21 then sue the city for breech of THEIR contract?
Inquiring minds want to know. I doubt that The Inquirer would publish all the stupidity that comes out of city hall. It’s too bizarre for them.
You betcha.
Real question is if staff will finally roll over and admit who gave the order.
Hell no as mentioned in the article they have gotten quite good at covering tracks with money. This Hamel case is the largest scam I have ever read about. Had no idea cops were able to do whatever they want and get paid big – shocked, and it has to be uncovered.
In reading your link posted sounds like quite a scandal to me. Another large deal made.
City of Fullerton and the Fullerton Police Department cut a dealwith Lieutenant Kathryn Hamel and in doing so bypassed CA’s disclosure law known as SB1421.
First it appears that Lieutenant Hamel was the subject of two internal affairs investigations and at least one of them was completed. This first image shows this much.
It would seem that Hamel wasn’t innocent of the charges that led to the internal affairs investigations because they rescheduled a “Skelly” hearing against her.
Now let us put that in context with our earlier post:
“all charges against Hamel, including charges relating to dishonesty, deceit, untruthfulness, false or misleading statements, ethics or maliciousness were never resolved or proven because there was no Skelly hearing or opportunity for appeal and, accordingly, are not sustained.”
If you’re wondering what a “Skelly” hearing is I’ll let the city of Fullerton’s own city attorney Jones & Mayer lay it out:
Due process requires that any deprivation of life, liberty, or property be preceded by notice and opportunity for hearing appropriate to the nature of the case. In California, this is referred to as a Skelly hearing or conference, after the California Supreme Court decision in Skelly v. State Personnel Board, 15 Cal. 3d 194 (1975).
The Ninth Circuit held that, at a minimum, these pre-removal safeguards must include notice of the proposed action, the reasons therefore, a copy of the charges and materials upon which the action is based, and the right to respond, either orally or in writing, to the authority initially imposing discipline.
Basically you don’t schedule a skelly hearing unless you’re going to discipline somebody and take something away from them – usually their job.
That last image shows that the city scheduled and then “re-set” the Skelly hearing to “put another date on the calendar” and yet the city dropped all charges claiming there was no hearing. Obviously there can’t be a hearing if you’re just using one as a bargaining chip instead of actually holding your people accountable.
This is shameful.
This whole situation looks like nothing but a way to game SB1421 allowing the police to avoid disclosing “dishonesty, deceit, untruthfulness, false or misleading statements, ethics or maliciousness” on the part of one of their own and hiding behind union bought secrecy to get away with it.
This is shameful and the people deserve better from our public servants which is why SB1421 was passed and signed by Jerry Brown in the first place. Instead of honesty and integrity behind the badge and from our public servants we get corruption and cover-ups.
Shame on Fullerton. Shame on our city council for never doing anything to get the bad apples in FPD under control. Shame on the Fullerton PD brass for playing along and shame on the men and women in law enforcement who turn a blind eye to all of this corruption in order to save their paychecks
Specific Performance is still on the table. Rob Sims, Hangar 21, knew what he was getting himself into when he took their hangar for weddings/events. He took advantage of federal funded building. It’s just a matter of time!
If anyone ever tabulated the amount paid monthly for legal fees to all of the various attorneys it would be around $200,000. Per month. $200k/month. That doesn’t include settlements, just ongoing legal fees.
The bottom line on proper representation is the Fiduciary Responsibility to the Citizenry; by elected officials and hired legal representatives. Any wrongdoings/ ers can be held accountable through legal suit for failure to comply, w/ the best possible representation too the Peoples.
I think we all should hold accountable to the city officials current and previous officials and go to court and get judgment against them and recover our damages
We need a total intervention at this point. The skeletons are piled so high and someone has got to come clean. This blog is the only place left we read real news on what is really goin on. So sick of the double standards this city forces us to put up with
This is just another example of incompetence on the part of our City politicians. Pretty obvious now that the airport manager had a hidden agenda. The City destroyed a 25 plus year successful business that employed dozens. Now its out of a home and shut down thus employing no one. Not paying rent to the City and not paying local business taxes. Simply put destroyed by a corrupt City. I hope Combat sues for their lease back. They need to throw the current lease holder out because they are not complying with Federal regulations about non aviation businesses located on an airport. If they don’t make an immediate correction my guess is the City will be in a lawsuit with the Federal Government. I am sure that will eventually cost the City millions more in attorney fee’s with an obvious incompetent law firm representing them. The City should give the lease back to Combat and pray that there wont be anymore lawsuits.
Brendan O’Reilly Lied and used the cities resources to defend him in court. His problems are about to begin!
The good Guys won this time!! The truth held up in court!
Good prevailed in Court this time!! Stand up for what is righteous. Stand up for what is true. God saw you through it!!
Somebody needs to go to jail, examples need to be made. Strong punishment will guarantee that this doesn’t happen again. The city council will continue to act recklessly
We should have state come in and audit the books and may be take over like in city of Bell and other cities we should look into it I am so of thier stinken attitude towards our roads are crumbling and rosecrans Avenue from beach Blvd till Euclid is a mess but no jane florey will have great idea to do patch work lamirada is much smaller city they have pave 3 times in 20 years but Fullerton is busy doing case against them paying police brutality cases and now this shame on them.
Here’s a creative idea- put the plane back in the hanger erase all the paperwork
Cover up all bad behavior
Lie steal cheat to get your story lined up
Hire attorney
Ruin family members of the innocent
All cops involved should be fired
but first… give them a fat pension
Maybe someone can become a fake teacher Along the way with an ego the size of Europe
This Way the city is handling our money is so corrupt it’s really starting to piss some people off.
Each COF council & admin member knowingly and/or unknowingly partcipating in these schemes are derelict of duty and can, by law, be held personally responsible and liable for damages to the public.
No, they indemnify themselves. We will always pay for their misfeasance. They like it that way.
Great case and great settlement! Who was the attorney representing The win? Does anyone know the name of the attorney who stood up Fullerton in this lawsuit?
Attorney representing the Air Combat was Gary Casselman!
Great job Gary Casselman!
Hell, I could have won this one.
ROFLMAO! Ah you people know nothing.
We saw a whole stream of your comments last time around telling us we knew nothing. And guess what? We knew everything!
Can someone here run a total of the number of lawsuits both against the city and the police that are being paid out, or have been paid out in the last ten years?
Fitzgerald, in one of her many FB talks, let everyone know that the city offices were understaffed due to budget constraints.
I seems to me that one of the reasons the city is short staffed is that we’re spending a lot of money on lawsuits.
In this article you mentioned Hamill – where is case standing and has the attorney representing them found the real truth out yet? This is the one I’m waiting for to be exposed. Does anyone have any current information?
*all charges against Hamel, including charges relating to dishonesty, deceit, untruthfulness, false or misleading statements, ethics or maliciousness were never resolved or proven because there was no Skelly hearing or opportunity for appeal and, accordingly, are not sustained.”
So let me understand this Hamill gets fired from arresting innocent people, and if I’m not mistaken they were taking care of their parents, then she gets rehired gets a promotion for being a bad cop then gets her job taken away and still gets her pension? It appears as though with a Skellie hearing they are absolutely was wrongdoing and now she has been asked to leave her position with full pension. How in gods name is this going on does the city of Fullerton actually get what just happened here? And when are all the facts going to be released on this?
Basically you don’t schedule a skelly hearing unless you’re going to discipline somebody and take something away from them – usually their job!!!
The city scheduled and then “re-set” the Skelly hearing to “put another date on the calendar” and yet the city dropped all charges claiming there was no hearing. Obviously there can’t be a hearing if you’re just using one as a bargaining chip instead of actually holding your people accountable.
This is shameful and the people deserve better from our public servants which is why SB1421 was passed and signed by Jerry Brown in the first place. Instead of honesty and integrity behind the badge and from our public servants we get corruption and cover-ups.
Did u see this?
The City will revise its Notice of Intent to Discipline Hamel to remove allegations relating to dishonesty, deceit, untruthfulness, false or misleading statements, ethics or maliciousness. The Interim Police Chief will place a notice in the file indicating that, pursuant to settlement, all charges against Hamel, including charges relating to dishonesty, deceit, untruthfulness, false or misleading statements, ethics or maliciousness were never resolved or proven because there was no Skelly hearing or opportunity for appeal and, accordingly, are not sustained. The IA investigation, and related materials including the revised Notice of Intent to Discipline, will be sealed and maintained in the Human Resources Department, and only in the Human Resources Department, with a notice reading: “THIS IS A SEALED FILE AND SHOULD NOT BE DISCLOSED OR OTHERWISE PRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE CITY MANAGER, AND ONLY AFTER RECEIVING A WRITTEN OPINION FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY THAT SAID RELEASE OF INFORMATION IS REQUIRED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.”
“The City asserts, based on a “not sustained” finding of all charges, that any and all records relating to this investigation are not subject to release under Senate Bill 1421.