The Top 10 Stories Of 2009

Former Det. Christopher Lee Dunn, who won the Medal of Valor as a Los Angeles police officer before joining the Burbank force, sued the department in July. He alleged in a 22-page complaint that he was subjected to racial taunts and retaliation before being unlawfully fired.

That was followed by a lawsuit in which attorneys for Dunn alleged City Atty. Dennis Barlow illegally released his personnel records to the media on the same day the former detective filed a wrongful termination and racial discrimination lawsuit. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Irving Shimer granted the city’s motion to strike the complaint.

In September, Capt. Bill Taylor filed a civil lawsuit against the city, alleging he was unfairly demoted from his post as deputy chief after he tried to compel the command staff to address a series of internal complaints.

The flow of legal action battered the city’s Police Commission, which agreed to meet more frequently. It also awaiting the outcome of a proposal before the City Council to increase up its oversight powers.

It took more than six months for the police union to cast a no-confidence vote in Stehr, three days after he announced plans to retire by Dec. 31.

The recent public suicide of Sgt. Neil Thomas Gunn, who was named in the FBI probe into police misconduct, focused further scrutiny on the department. Gunn’s family blamed Stehr and city officials, saying he was the victim of retaliation for defending fellow officers.

Before naming Stehr’s replacement, city officials brought on board Former U.S. Atty. Debra Wong Yang and Merrick Bobb, director of the Police Assessment Resource Center, to assist in reforming the department.

And two weeks ago City Manager Mike Flad named Scott LaChasse, a 32-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, as his interim police chief.

2: Homeowners: Disney dumped toxins

Rancho District residents made a splash when they alleged that the Walt Disney Co. for decades had contaminated groundwater with toxic chemicals, including cancer-causing chromium 6.

In lawsuits brought by more than a dozen residents, along with the watchdog group Environmental World Watch Inc., the residents claimed that Disney for years dumped wastewater contaminated with hexavalent chromium from its on-site cooling systems.