Court affirms $1M jury’s verdict against police department over disability violation

A California appeals court on Friday affirmed a jury’s finding that the Los Angeles Police Department failed to engage in the interactive process to find a reasonable accommodation for an injured officer who argued his condition was exacerbated by job duties.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal also rejected the city’s argument that the jury’s award was excessive, saying substantial evidence supported the $1 million award for noneconomic damages, according to Vincent Albano v. City of Los Angeles.

Vincent Albano was working patrol in the LAPD’s Harbor Division in 2003 when he started experiencing extreme fatigue and later developed insomnia and extreme body aches. A doctor subsequently determined that his symptoms were caused by an enteroviral infection.

Mr. Albano returned to work months later with restrictions limiting him to low-stress desk duties and day shifts and was assigned to work a desk job.

Mr. Albano took time off in 2018 due to hypertension. After returning to work, he received an email from the department’s return-to-work section inquiring about his restrictions. In December 2018, the department told Mr. Albano that it was going to hire non-police workers for his position and eventually announced he was returning to patrol.

The next day, his doctor found that his blood pressure was dangerously high and declared him temporarily and totally disabled, and placed him on medical leave.

Mr. Albano pursued a claim against the city for failure to accommodate a disability and failure to engage in the interactive process to identify a reasonable accommodation as required by the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. A jury found the city liable only for failure to accommodate and awarded $1 million in noneconomic damages.

The appeals court agreed that substantial evidence supported the jury’s finding that the city failed to engage in the interactive process, adding that a “jury could reasonably conclude from… testimony that the LAPD’s conduct was a substantial factor in causing the significant and sudden exacerbation in his condition and that the increased severity of his symptoms,” the court said.

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