THE VOICE OF MODESTO

The Case of Lydia Lopez vs.  Sheriff Bill Pooley, Stanislaus County Office of the Sheriff Adam Christianson & the County of Stanislaus:  Case No. 621814, will begin on February 2, 2010.  The Jury selection will start on February 3, 2010.  This case began in 12-14-2007, when it was assigned a judge.  The lawsuit filed by Lydia Lopez lists 15 complaints.  They include sexual harassment, failure to take all reasonable steps to prevent discrimination and harassment in the violation of FEHA, civil code 1708.5 & breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealings.

Take a look at the Stanislaus County Case Record, and you will see that there has been a lot of history with this case.  Last month depositions occurred.  While most people attended their depositions, Mayor Ridenour was encouraged to not attend.   When someone is deposed, you  have two choices, you may attend and give a record, or you may not attend.   If you choose not to attend, they can subpoena you to attend the deposition or the trial.  In this case, the lawyer for Lydia Lopez choose to just wait for the trial.  The County Lawyers made the recommendation to the Mayor on the chance that maybe they won’t go to court, but fortunately for us, the trial begins Tuesday.

A claim from the Sheriffs Dept. is they believe that there are some discrepancies regarding time cards.  The prosecution also believes that there are some discrepancies regarding time cards.  There are multiple accusation about falsified timecards of a few other deputies and the Mayor.  It will be interesting to see what the Mayors testimony will be surrounding.  Will it be time cards or is he a witness to the harassment?  To Plead the fifth, which is the act of refusing to testify under oath in a court of law on the grounds that the answers that would be given could be used as evidence against the witness to convict him of a criminal offense.  If Mayor Ridenour plead the fifth in questioning involving time cards, that would mean timecard alteration has happen on his part.

In a recently settle case against the Sheriff’s Dept, the lawyers hired to represent the County employed successful stalling tactics which cost us, the taxpayers (i.e. you), over $100,000 in extra legal fees.  These fees were accrued when the judge ordered this form of dispute resolution, a second judge to rule on the games having been played by the County Lawyers.  Both times, the Arbitration judge ruled not only must the county lawyers stop stalling, but the judge ruled that they must pay all $ regarding coming to arbitration.  These same lawyers are representing the sheriff dept and sheriff Pooley in this case.  They have been sent to the arbitration judge with this case also.  The 5 figure price tag that comes with these games only adds to our debt in defending this case.  The County lawyers should be working in a capacity that is fair and timely, if there is nothing to hide, why is the County allowing for gross amounts of money to be spent dragging our feet?

The Case of Lydia Lopez vs.  Sheriff Bill Pooley, Stanislaus County Office of the Sheriff Adam Christianson & the County of Stanislaus:  Case No. 621814.  update 1-31-2010