A Los Angeles County jury awarded a former LAPD commander nearly $6 million on Wednesday, ruling in her favor in a lawsuit against the department that claimed she was wrongfully fired for an alcohol-fueled incident in 2018.
The commander, Nicole Mehringer, argued that she was being held to a different standard than her male LAPD colleagues, who she said were allowed to keep their jobs under similar circumstances, sometimes with department officials going to great lengths to cover up their wrongdoing.
The jury finally agreed with her.
“I feel grateful and vindicated,” Mehringer told The Times after the verdict. “This sentence means the world to me and, in my opinion, restores my reputation.”
One of his attorneys, Greg Smith, said former Chief Michel Moore's testimony was key. At trial, Smith told jurors that Moore lied when the former boss, who retired in 2024, testified that he never overturned a disciplinary panel's decision to fire someone.
“Jurors believed our client was clearly treated differently,” Smith said.
Smith said the case hinged in part on how police officers treated his client when he tried to expose others for misconduct.
During the trial, Smith showed the jury a videotaped message from a former Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief, John Sherman, in which Sherman talked about Mehringer's excellent record and argued why he should keep his job. But Sherman later withdrew his support, openly stating that he was doing so because Mehringer had chosen to expose the department's dirty laundry, Smith said.
Mehringer's case dates back to April 27, 2018, when she and her subordinate, Sgt. James Kelly, were arrested by Glendale police officers. The two were found in an unmarked police Dodge Charger that had stopped against a vehicle parked in the middle of the road.
Kelly, who was behind the wheel, appeared to be under the influence, while Mehringer also showed signs of intoxication and argued with officers, who needed about 20 minutes to remove them from the vehicle, Glendale police told The Times in 2018. Mehringer was charged with a single misdemeanor count of public intoxication, while Kelly was charged with driving under the influence.
Mehringer's charge was later dismissed after she completed a 30-day outpatient recovery program. Kelly later did not object.
At the time of the incident, Mehringer was considered a rising star in the Los Angeles police force. He led the department's employee relations group, which handles contract negotiations, grievances and other union-related issues.
Mehringer said in her motion that she was offered a two-rank demotion to lieutenant, which she declined. He ended up losing his job after a disciplinary panel ruled against him. Kelly was demoted from sergeant to police officer and assigned to an administrative position. He is no longer on a recent department list.
Mehringer sued the city to get her job back, claiming that her conduct, while against department policy, was no different from that of male command staff who routinely disobeyed the rules and got away with it. Unlike her, she said, some of these men were allowed to retire quietly. Others kept their jobs or were even promoted.
During sometimes tearful testimony, Mehringer testified that she knew that having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate and being drunk in public was wrong. She said the situation had “humiliated” her and left her career in tatters, but maintained the way her case was handled was unfair.
The verdict marked another major legal loss for the city in a lawsuit filed by a female police command staff member.
In 2022, a jury awarded $4 million in damages to Lillian Carranza, a retired commander who sued over allegations that department leadership had failed to respond appropriately when officers began circulating a photo of a naked woman that some falsely claimed was her.
Another former top LAPD commander, former Capt. Stacey Vince received a $10.1 million verdict in 2023 after accusing the department of retaliating and discriminating against her for complaining about a supervisor's conduct.
