Lawsuit

Defending the city against claims that former Burbank Deputy Chief of Police William Taylor was terminated after facing on-the-job retaliation from the department, attorneys this week called into question the reason for his lawsuit. Taylor alleges he was demoted, and then fired, for pushing for proper discipline in a sexual harassment incident and because he blocked the firing of minority police officers. But defense attorneys said in Los Angeles County Superior court that it wasn't until Taylor received notice to appear for an interview by an outside investigator concerning the robbery at a local bakery that he filed his lawsuit against the city.

A practice of charging students for travel and other extracurricular expenses might end, Burbank Unified officials said. The ACLU of Southern California called those tactics discriminatory and unlawful pay-to-play policies in a lawsuit involving Burroughs High School and more than two dozen other California campuses filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The case contends that the practice of charging fees for student participation in academic subjects or extracurricular activities like athletics and band violates the state Constitution, which guarantees all children are entitled to a free and equitable education.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Wednesday gave attorneys for the city of Burbank and Walmart four more months to prepare their defense against a lawsuit filed to block the mega-retailer from opening adjacent to the Empire Center. The additional time could further delay Walmart's plans to open at the former Great Indoors site, where no work has been allowed since a court-ordered injunction was issued last month. “I'm not in a hurry anymore. Everybody's gotten over being in a hurry,” said Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones after the attorneys made their request.

A former Burbank police officer has filed a federal lawsuit against the city alleging that he was wrongfully terminated in retaliation for suing the city four years ago for racial discrimination and harassment. The lawsuit was filed last week in U.S. District Court by Elfego Rodriguez, who was one of five officers who sued the city for racial discrimination and harassment in 2009. Rodriguez was ultimately dropped from the joint lawsuit by a judge. It marks the latest lawsuit filed by former and current police officers that center on discrimination and wrongful termination.

CITY CENTER — A Burbank police captain on Tuesday 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. Capt. Bill Taylor, known by many in the city as the moral compass of the Police Department, filed the lawsuit Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles Superior Court, the latest in a series of police-related legal woes that have struck Burbank.

CITY CENTER — One lieutenant and four Burbank police officers filed a lawsuit against the department Thursday, alleging that they were subjected to routine racial discrimination and sexual harassment, and then faced retaliation from the command staff when they complained. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of Lt. Omar Rodriguez and police officers Cindy Guillen-Gomez, Steve Karagiosian, Elfego Rodriguez and Jamal Childs. According to the complaint, the officers “were subjected to discrimination and discriminatory policies, practices and procedures based upon race, ancestry, national origin, sex/gender, marital status, and pregnancy, among other things.

Construction risks Martin Sanchez v. Bernard Brothers Construction, Case No. EC050330 Bernard Brothers Construction was hired to perform crane-related services for loading and unloading building materials at a project on the 200 block of South Brand Boulevard, according to a lawsuit filed in Glendale Superior Court. Martin Sanchez, a union carpenter, was also working on the same construction project. But on July 19, 2007, Sanchez got an unpleasant surprise.

The family of a Burbank teenager who had a sexual relationship with his middle school teacher has filed a lawsuit against the school district alleging that it failed to safeguard the student from an aggressive predator. In March, Amy Beck, a sixth-grade teacher at Jordan Middle School, shocked the Burbank community when she turned herself in to police for having sex with her then-14-year-old student, who has not been identified. The liaison took place from March to September 2009, and involved sex acts at the teacher's Burbank home and on the Jordan Middle School campus, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.