A Valencia woman who claimed she faced harassment in the workplace as a Los Angeles Police Department officer after her husband, a now-former officer, shared nude pictures of her with several of their coworkers, had her case ordered into a mandatory settlement system at a June 27 hearing.
Officer Anna Lamas filed a lawsuit in December after she learned of her husband’s unauthorized photo-sharing back in January 2022, when both worked for the department.
Brady Lamas agreed to a plea deal for one misdemeanor count of 647(j)(4), a revenge-porn statute, and received one year of probation and had to surrender his Peace Officer Standards and Training certification, meaning he can no longer be a police officer.
Lamas’ lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles alleges sexual harassment and retaliation in violation of the Fair Housing and Employment Act, as well as whistleblower retaliation and failure to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment and retaliation in violation of the FHEA.
When Lamas returned to work a little over two weeks after discovering the alleged breach of trust, not only had the two officers not been moved or placed on loan pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs investigation — which the lawsuit alleges is standard practice — the officers “would routinely see plaintiff and subject her to sexual harassment.”
In its defense, attorneys for the city of L.A. filed a Feb. 14 response denying the allegations on more than dozen grounds, including: the cause of action is frivolous; the statute of limitations had been exceeded; and the claims for relief are barred “by plaintiff’s unclean hands.”
Neither side responded to a request for comment Thursday.
“This case has been ordered into the Resolve Law LA Virtual MSC Program for personal injury or employment law cases,” according to the minute order from Judge Mel Recana in Department 45 of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Downtown Los Angeles.
Cases may be assigned at any stage of the proceedings but are often selected for the program
at an early stage, with the goal of reducing case backlog, litigation costs and delays in resolution, the order states.
Resolve Law LA is a virtual program through which two qualified volunteer lawyers with experience in relevant cases, one each for the plaintiff and the defendant, are assigned to help resolve pending cases.
The program “encourages resolution of non-complex employment cases,” according to its website. “Employment cases sent into the program should involve small businesses, short-term employees, failure-to-hire situations, readily quantifiable damages or otherwise be cases likely to require less discovery, and be suitable for early dispute resolution,” it continues, adding the program “targets cases where a successful MSC can be held within six to nine months of filing and before extensive discovery has taken place.”
The case is ordered to be resolved by Sept. 24, with a hearing to discuss the matters scheduled for Sept. 25.
