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$4.2 million awarded in
By Rod Thompson
police promotion case
Star-BulletinHILO -- Nineteen current and former Big Island police officers who sued for damages over cheating on promotions will receive a net judgment of about $4.2 million, Judge Riki May Amano has ordered.
Amano rejected an argument by defense attorneys yesterday that the total should be reduced because some of the component amounts for each plaintiff allegedly overlapped. She set Feb. 28 for lawyers to produce a final accounting.
A jury determined last month that Chief Wayne Carvalho and former Deputy Chief Francis DeMorales participated in rigging promotions from 1984 to 1994. Much of the money awarded by the jury is supposed to come from their pockets. But Hawaii County also was found liable and would have to pay the whole amount if Carvalho and DeMorales can't pay.
The case arose because former Chief Guy A. Paul set up panels of ranking officers to advise him on promotions.
Trial testimony indicated that Paul would tell then-Deputy Chief Carvalho his "preference" for many promotions. Carvalho passed those names to then-Inspector DeMorales, and DeMorales told preferred candidates the questions and answers to expect during interviews.
Defense attorneys argued unsuccessfully that this didn't matter because the panels only gave Paul advice. The law gave Paul the power to promote anyone he wanted from a list of candidates who passed civil service screening.
By prior agreements, the jury was allowed to find Paul partly responsible for the cheating, but he is not required to pay anything.
Subtracting Paul's portion reduced the total judgment by roughly $433,000, according to figures supplied by Paul's attorney Brian DeLima.
The figures could still be reduced. The jury found Carvalho responsible for events during 1989 to 1994 when he wasn't even a member of the department.
