Unpaid Overtime Claims of San Diego Police Pass Court Hurdle

San Diego, CAThe City of San Diego tried to get the courts to throw out their police officers' million dollar overtime pay claim before trial, but last week the Court gave the city the thumbs down.

The police officers' case, Abbe, et al v. the City of San Diego began in September, 2005, and has been wending its way through the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California ever since.

Ruling May 15 on a motion by the City that the police officers' case be dismissed, Judge Dana M. Sabraw concluded that the allegations in support of the plaintiffs' main claims were sufficient to proceed to trial.

What the police say...

The police officers claim that:

• The City willfully and repeatedly violated the Fair Labor Standards Act


• The City should pay penalties for failure to take timely remedial action


• The City breached its contract with the police officers.

Judge Sabraw dismissed certain claims, which the plaintiffs' lawyers are calling "secondary", and asked them to restate and refile a claim relating to compensatory time off.

In a release put out May 17 by lawyers for the police, (Jackson/ DeMarco/ Tidus/ Petersen/ Peckenpaugh), the firm's Gregory G. Petersen accused the City Attorney of making misleading statements to the public about the case.

He says the City of San Diego is misleading the public....

Petersen went on to say: " ...(the city solicitor's) self-promoting comments in his most recent press release to the effect that the Court's ruling 'saved' the City over $8 million, in his calculations, only serve to mislead the public. In fact, the claims that were dismissed only represented a small fraction of the potential liability for the core FLSA and breach of contract claims for unpaid wages, penalties and interest, which could exceed $100 million. Rather than trying to further inflate his public persona, (the attorney) would be well advised to encourage the City to implement corrective measures that would stop the steady accumulation of additional claims, penalties and interest against the City. That would amount to a true cost savings for the City."

The City of San Diego currently has about 700 cases of all descriptions on its litigation list, including various overtime compensation cases.

An early settlement for the police claimants (and all the rest of the overtime claimants) would make sense for them, and would stop the litigation costs for all concerned.

But for the City of San Diego, it is likely more important not to give any signal that they are ready to throw in the towel on all the overtime cases they face.

That's what makes these cases a real challenge, and class action a necessity: the lawyers are indeed fighting city hall.