City Settles with PETA in Lawsuit Over Release of Police Records

[Updated Thursday, August 4, 2016 | 7:50 a.m.]     The City of Pasadena and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) separately confirmed on Wednesday that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit PETA filed last year alleging that the Pasadena Police Department had failed to properly respond to PETA’s requests for documents relating to an incident during the 2014 Rose Parade.

In that incident, a number of PETA supporters were arrested after they sat down in front of the SeaWorld float to protest what they described as “abusive” treatment of orcas at SeaWorld.

PETA has claimed that one of the protesters in that incident was in fact a “corporate spy” working for SeaWorld and collaborating with Pasadena police, and that while the bona fide protesters were arrested and processed, that spy, whom they say is named Paul T. McComb, was released from custody.

The animal rights organization sought to establish facts that would prove what it called “collusion” between Pasadena police and SeaWorld by making requests under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) for arrest records and other documents that would prove their claims.

Pasadena police provided only a limited response to PETA’s requests, in part denying that certain requested records exist and in part invoking an exemption from disclosure for records related to complaints and investigations by local police agencies.

“Law enforcement agencies, including the Pasadena Police Dept., routinely will use a variety of methods, including undercover investigative work, to solve crimes and assess tips about criminal activities or terrorism threats in order to protect the public,” City Public Information Officer William Boyer said in an email yesterday.

Last month, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mary H. Strobel handed down a complex ruling which denied 22 of PETA’s motions and granted a limited protective order requested by the City but which also sided on several motions with PETA’s requests.

In response, the Pasadena City Attorney’s office negotiated a settlement with PETA under which a police call log was released and PETA was compensated $23,500 for its attorneys’ fees.

“The City Attorney’s Office felt it was in the best interests of the City to settle at this time,” Boyer said Wednesday. “… there were actually several rulings in favor of the City in which the court agreed the City was not required under the CPRA to release police investigative records and, rather than go to court and incur additional costs, the City Attorney’s Office worked out an agreement to release a basic call log as part of closure on this case.”

In a press release issued yesterday, PETA described the settlement as “a victory in a lawsuit taking on the Pasadena Police Department’s … efforts to cover up its collusion with SeaWorld in the arrest of SeaWorld protesters at the 2014 Rose Parade.”