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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s possible exit to join the Biden administration has lawyers in a lawsuit against the city tussling over when his wife could be deposed ahead of any departure by the couple.
Lawyers filed papers Tuesday asking the court to order the first lady of Los Angeles, Amy Elaine Wakeland, to be deposed before June 15 in a lawsuit brought by a former bodyguard to the mayor who claims he was harassed by a longtime Garcetti aide.
The motion doesn’t concern whether Wakeland should be deposed, but only when her deposition should take place.
Diana Wells, an attorney for plaintiff Matthew Garza, argues in a motion that city attorneys offered July 7 to depose Wakeland and that Deputy City Atty. Doug Lyon reported that he was “booked” before that date. Wells claims in her motion that “intentional delay is what is really going on.”
“It is now public knowledge that Mayor Eric Garcetti is one of President Biden’s top choices for the position of U.S. Ambassador to India,” the motion states. “If Mayor Garcetti accepts such a position and moves to India with Ms. Wakeland, Plaintiff will have to seek Ms. Wakeland’s deposition by using whatever process and procedures are required under the laws of India.”
The motion states that “Ms. Wakeland is not a city employee,” that city attorneys “cannot force her to sit for her deposition, and that “Ms. Wakeland will be out of this court’s subpoena power once she and the mayor have relocated out of the country.”
Garcetti is on the short list of candidates that Biden is considering for the post of ambassador to India, a White House official confirmed this month. The mayor hasn’t publicly indicated that he would stay in Los Angeles if he was picked for the job.
The mayor’s possible exit comes as he and Wakeland are considered witnesses in a lawsuit filed by Los Angeles Police Officer Garza, who claims that former Garcetti aide Rick Jacobs harassed him and that the mayor didn’t do anything to stop it. Garcetti has said in his deposition that he didn’t witness any inappropriate behavior, and Jacobs has denied the police officer’s allegations.
Emails included in the court filing show the attorneys on both sides debating the possibility of the India nomination as they discussed deposition dates for Wakeland.
In a May 6 email to Lyon, the deputy city attorney, Wells wrote: “We are aware that Mayor Garcetti is being considered for a post in India. Please immediately provide us with dates this month for Amy Wakeland’s deposition.”
Lyon wrote back that July 7 was the soonest date. “It is not reasonable to assume everyone can be deposed at your beck and call,” he added in an email.
Wells followed with an email on May 10 to Lyon: “What assurances do we have that she will actually appear on July 7? We are concerned that Garcetti may be posted to India before then.”
Replying that day, Lyon wrote: “I have no information about India. But they have computers there also. She can still be deposed. And I believe they will still be here in LA anyway.”
On May 14, Lyon wrote to Wells that the mayor has not been offered any positions outside of L.A.
“Even if he is, it would require Senate confirmation. All of this would be in the news. The soonest he could reasonably leave would be well after July 7, which is the [scheduled] Wakeland deposition. Therefore, there is no reason or good cause to move the date.”
Wells’ motion says that Lyon already has confirmed his availability for depositions on two days in May and two days in June.
“If it is true that Mr. Lyon’s schedule will not allow him to provide Ms. Wakeland until July 7, 2021, then one of the above-scheduled depositions can easily be rescheduled to make time in Mr. Lyon’s schedule for Ms. Wakeland’s deposition,” Wells writes.
Wells’ motion also asks the court to impose sanctions of $4,950 against Wakeland and her counsel, Lyon, for “their refusal to provide a timely date for Ms. Wakeland’s deposition is without substantial justification.”
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