Long before former Sheriff Michael S. Carona was charged with political corruption, Orange County risk managers had their hands full with lawsuits from some of his top deputies and others accusing him of abusing the power of his office and scandalizing the department.
Several of the lawsuits, in fact, parallel the accusations in the sweeping criminal indictment, which ended Carona's career. And although that might not spell certain doom for lawyers defending the Sheriff's Department, it could motivate the county to settle the cases out of court, civil litigation experts say.
"It can't help the Sheriff Department's defense to have that kind of publicity getting out there," said Browne Greene, a Santa Monica civil litigator who is not involved in any of the suits. "The plaintiffs are victims. They're whistle-blowers. And they paid for it before it became recognized by the feds."
With the exception of one case, the lawsuits were filed by men whom Carona placed in positions of high trust and later dismissed, demoted or reassigned. The plaintiffs include George Jaramillo, an assistant sheriff once seen as Carona's top confidant and likely successor; and former Lt. Bill Hunt, chief of police services in San Clemente and top challenger to Carona in the 2006 election.
Another lawsuit was filed by two men who were confronted on a golf course by a gun-waving, badge-flashing man later identified as Raymond Yi, Carona's personal martial arts instructor and a member of his problem-plagued reserve deputy program.
Lawyers representing some of the plaintiffs agree that their lawsuits are winnable even if Carona hadn't been charged with felonies in November, accused with misusing his office to enrich himself and others, including his wife and longtime mistress. Given that the allegations in the indictment mirror several in the lawsuits, a conviction can only help, they say.
In Hunt's case, for example, he built his 2006 campaign against the sheriff around the scandals dogging Carona and the Sheriff's Department as an election theme. The day after Carona was reelected, he suspended Hunt for making campaign statements he saw as a violation of department rules. Five months later, Hunt retired instead of accepting a demotion.
"Much of what Bill was saying during the campaign was questioning Carona's integrity," said Hunt's attorney, Stephen H. Silver. "One of the conclusions jurors might reach is: Hunt was prophetic."
