LA City Council approves $500K to fight ex-fire chief in lawsuit for alleged workplace retaliation

LOS ANGELES (CNS) — The City Council Thursday approved $500,000 to hire private attorneys and defend the city against a lawsuit filed by former fire chief Kristin Crowley, who was ousted by Mayor Karen Bass in the aftermath of the deadly 2025 Palisades Fire.

In a 12-1 vote, the council authorized the City Attorney’s Office to contract with Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP for a period of three years, for an initial amount of $500,000.

Councilman Adrin Nazarian voted against the contract, but did not provide comments during Wednesday’s council meeting. A representative for Nazarian did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The mayor’s office issued a statement saying, “We defer to the City Attorney’s Office on how they will lead the defense of the city against this meritless lawsuit. The fact is, Ms. Crowley was removed from her post for failing to deploy in advance and her decision to send 1,000 firefighters home instead of keeping them on duty on the morning the fires broke out.”

In her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed Feb. 20, Crowley alleges retaliation in violation of the Labor Code and retaliation in violation of the state Constitution. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

The council’s action came after an agreement between the City Attorney’s Office and Crowley’s attorneys to delay a response to the lawsuit.

In May, the City Attorney’s Office filed court papers with Judge Kristin S. Escalante, in which they explained they had determined private attorneys should handle the defense, and scheduling issues made it impossible for the council to select the law firm from among the bidders until after the June 2 primary election.

The city was expected to respond to Crowley’s suit by April 9. The former fire chief’s attorneys agreed to delay.

Bass accused Crowley of leadership failures during the January 2025 windstorm that led to the deadly Palisades Fire, and also accused her of refusing to prepare an after-action report on the firefight. The mayor also accused Crowley of failing to deploy 1,000 firefighters who “could have been on duty” the morning the fire erupted. Bass also contended in interviews that Crowley failed to inform her of the fire danger presented by forecasted Santa Ana winds — despite those warnings being widely publicized by the National Weather Service and in media reports for days in advance.

Crowley’s lawsuit, however, lays blame for the fire at the feet of the mayor and city leaders, saying the city historically failed to properly fund the LAFD, leaving the agency under-manned and backlogged in the maintenance of vehicles and other equipment.

“Crowley brings this case based on the actions of Mayor Karen Bass, who orchestrated a campaign of retaliation to conceal the extent to which Bass undermined public safety and transparency,” according to Crowley’s lawsuit.

The suit contends Crowley submitted “numerous detailed reports” annually to city leaders, including Bass complaining of aging infrastructure, shrinking staff and rising emergency calls that demanded attention.

“Despite these warnings, and despite Crowley’s request for an increased budget to address these issues, Mayor Bass and her administration cut the LAFD’s operating budget for fiscal year 2024-2025 by $17.6 million and eliminated positions critical to maintaining fire engines, trucks, and ambulances,” according to the suit.

The lawsuit also slams Bass’ decision to leave the country in the days prior to the severe Santa Ana wind event for a diplomatic trip to Ghana — a trip she took without notifying Crowley.

“When the Palisades Fire erupted, Bass — then out of the country — initially praised the department’s preparedness, even issuing a press release highlighting its deployment strategy,” the suit states. “But as criticism mounted over her absence and over her decision to cut the operating budget for LAFD despite evidence that LAFD needed more and not fewer resources, Bass reversed course. She sought to avoid accountability by shifting blame and lying — including falsely claiming that she was not aware of the nationally anticipated weather event, falsely claiming that the LAFD’s budget was not cut, and falsely claiming that LAFD’s resources would have supported an additional 1,000 firefighters to fight the blaze — claims contradicted by public records and Bass’ own prior statements.

“These false statements were not mistakes but part of a deliberate strategy to divert scrutiny from Bass’ decisions and to avoid accountability.”

In response to the suit, Bass’ senior adviser Yusef Robb previously issued a statement saying, “There is nothing new here. Ms. Crowley was removed from her post for her failure to deploy in advance and her decision to send 1,000 firefighters home instead of keeping them on duty on the morning the fires broke out. This lawsuit has no merit.”

Crowley in 2025 appealed her removal as chief to the City Council, but the council stood behind Bass, rejecting the appeal in a 13-2 vote.

The Palisades Fire burned more than 23,000 acres, killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of structures.