La Mesa Police, City Prevail on Court Motions in Officer ‘Thugs’ Lawsuit

Updated at 4:45 p.m. Feb. 27, 2012

An East County judge Friday sustained the La Mesa Police Department’s efforts to fend off a former San Diego mayor candidate’s lawsuit.

But Judge Eddie Sturgeon served notice that the case will go forward eventually, according to the plaintiff, Rich Riel, who has called La Mesa police “thugs” and rogue cops for how he was treated in an October 2010 incident on Highwood Avenue.

“I consider this a great victory for me, David, against the La Mesa Goliath,” Riel said Sunday. “I am still standing, and now the judge is wondering why the police officers don’t accept service” of his lawsuit against them.

Riel, who ran for San Diego mayor twice in the early 1980s, said via email that Sturgeon upheld motions by the city and several defendants in the civil suit, including former Police Chief Al Lanning. Court records verify this.

“You are correct on the motion to quash service—the judge sustained the motion,” Riel said via email. “The judge then asked the [defendants’ counsel] for the policemen to accept service in court.”

Riel says the city’s lawyer had anticipated this and told the judge his clients had specifically instructed him not to accept service.

“From a tactical standpoint, this is a very foolish thing to do,” Riel said. “I am sure that counsel told his clients when they gave him that instruction it would only piss off the judge and delay the ultimate outcome, which is they will have to appear in court to answer my charges.”

Riel added:

When the presiding judge in your case asks you to do something, he is used to having that done. The judge was not pleased with this response. He strongly urged counsel to call me and arrange for service [of lawsuit papers].

His exact words were: “I don’t want to wait six months to get to this case.” The six-month reference is to the code section which allows me, after I have made a good faith effort to serve the defendants, with the approval of the court to publish the service in a newspaper and that will suffice for service.

If I go back into court and tell the judge that the defendants refuse to cooperate, it will be like a large flashing neon sign that my pleadings have merit.   

John P. McCormick of the Mission Valley-based law firm 
McCormick & Mitchell represents the city of La Mesa and its police officers in the case being heard in El Cajon Superior Court.

“Normally it is inappropriate for the city to comment on pending litigation,” McCormick said Monday afternoon in response to La Mesa Patch queries. “However, I can report that at a hearing held last Friday the judge determined Mr. Riel’s attempted service of process was not in compliance with applicable law—nor was his amended complaint sufficient as a matter of law."

McCormick said future actions of his clients will depend on Riel’s actions.

“If he amends his complaint or if he tries to affect service, we will evaluate those actions,” McCormick said. “It would be premature to decide upon future actions without having the benefit of an amended pleading or further attempts at service.”

Meanwhile, Riel defended himself amid perceptions that he is a serial lawsuit filer.

San Diego Superior Court records show Riel has been a party in 39 civil cases since 1984, and two criminal cases.

“While it is true I was charged in one criminal case, I was tried twice for the same charge in 1988 and again in 1991, after both trials ended in hung juries,” he said.  “The DA decided not to pursue the matter and all charges were dropped.”

Riel contends that he has filed only one earlier lawsuit—“against the attorney and the bank that used the criminal courts to prosecute me on a charge of forging bank documents. I have never been arrested or convicted for anything. I have been found innocent by a jury of my peers. I believe from personal experience that our law system with the exception of the La Mesa Police department is fair and honest.”

As far as the list of 39 civil cases posted with a story Jan. 20, Riel said most of them are from small claims court—and he said he was the plaintiff only three or four times.

“I am a defendant in almost all of them,” he said. “In reviewing these cases, I stand by my statement I am not a ‘serial plaintiff.’ ”

Riel, a Serra Mesa resident, wrote: “You as a reporter are in a great position to ask the policemen involved why they are stalling, for what on the face of it looks like an outrageous claim.”

Riel, 64, added:

Point out to them that they accepted service from every criminal who served them and when they were in court claimed the criminals were liars—who you going to believe a criminal or a cop? 

This case is different; I am not a criminal, but I am becoming more and more certain that Sgt. [Bret] Richards is not only a bully, he is a criminal. In a liars contest, who are you going to believe—a senior citizen who has never been arrested or a cop who constantly appears in court claiming the criminals are the liars?

Riel, who is acting as his own attorney, said he would be doing more research Monday “so I can amend my complaint so the city has to answer it.”

Riel also recalled his brush with fame in 1987, when news reports circulated that he was trying to market bumper stickers that said Death to Spies.

“Sen. [Bob] Dole has just come out with a proposal to make spying a death penalty offense,” Riel said. “In reading the story, I was struck with the idea of a bumper sticker that would go nicely with the idea. I printed up the bumper stickers as a joke, [and] the interview with L.A. Times was tongue in cheek.

“I still think the whole thing was funny, but it does look different in print.”