Los Angeles Police Department Rampart Division

The Los Angeles City Council approved a $20.5-million settlement Wednesday to bring to a close lawsuits brought by four Los Angeles Police officers who alleged that they were falsely arrested and maliciously prosecuted during the city's Rampart police corruption scandal that began in the late 1990s.

A former gang member who won a $15 million judgment after he was shot and framed by corrupt Los Angeles police officers more than a decade ago was arrested Sunday night after leading Glendale police on a high-speed chase, his second arrest in a week, authorities said. Javier Francisco Ovando, 31, was arrested about 8:15 p.m. Sunday after leading police on an hour-long chase that reached speeds of up to 90 mph on local streets and freeways, said Sgt. Tom Lorenz of the Glendale Police Department.

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton has appointed an advisory group, including former City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, to help implement reforms recommended after the Rampart police corruption scandal, officials said Tuesday. In addition to Miscikowski, the group will include police union President Bob Baker, policing expert Merrick Bobb, civil rights attorney Connie Rice and top LAPD command officers.

The Los Angeles City Council agreed Wednesday to pay $675,000 to settle a lawsuit by the family of former Police Sgt. Paul Byrnes Jr., who died of a painkiller overdose after being swept up in the massive internal investigation into the Rampart corruption scandal. The Los Angeles Police Department probe eventually cleared Byrnes of wrongdoing, city officials said, but the lawsuit by his father and children alleges that the LAPD violated his civil rights.

Eight years after the Rampart police scandal erupted, several key Los Angeles city officials are fighting a proposed settlement for a final batch of lawsuits that could push the city's total bill for the corruption episode well beyond $100 million. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office and the City Council's budget committee oppose a $16.

The Los Angeles City Council emerged from a closed session Friday without agreeing to settle several court cases brought by officers who say they were wrongly accused in the 1998 Rampart Division police scandal. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and six council members have openly opposed the city paying a $16.85-million settlement to the officers, even though the city's lawyer believes taxpayers could be compelled to pay up to $40 million if the city loses at trial.

Three lawsuits filed by current or former Los Angeles police officers will proceed to trial, a federal judge ordered Monday. The decision comes amid a breakdown in settlement talks with the city. The three officers, and a fourth in a separate suit, allege they were falsely arrested and maliciously prosecuted during the Rampart Division corruption scandal. Attorneys expect the trial to start next May. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney acted after officials failed to approve a $16.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a ruling that the Los Angeles Police Department can be sued under the federal racketeering law by a man who alleges that he was framed by officers as part of the Rampart scandal. The high court, without comment, declined to review an August decision of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The lower court had said that David Diaz was entitled to pursue claims against the department and former Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, now a city councilman.

A former LAPD Rampart Division officer who pleaded guilty in 2003 to three crimes related to the beating of a reputed gang member had the charges against him dismissed after completing his probation, his attorney said Thursday. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge last month granted the request of Ethan Cohan to reduce his felony convictions of conspiring to obstruct justice and filing a false police report to misdemeanors.

A federal jury on Thursday awarded $15 million to three Los Angeles police officers who alleged they were falsely arrested and maliciously prosecuted during the Rampart corruption scandal that roiled the LAPD for years beginning in 1999.