SANTA ANA – A judge on Thursday rejected a wrongful termination lawsuit by five former Orange County Sheriff’s Department administrators who said they deserved $19 million in damages because Sheriff Sandra Hutchens laid them off.

Superior Court Judge Frederick P. Aguirre found that the five former command staffers had been let go because of a 2009 budget crisis, not because of their ties to disgraced ex-Sheriff Mike Carona, as the group alleged.

“The court finds, based on the evidence presented, that the plaintiffs, like the other 55 department employees, were part of a mass layoff due to budgetary reasons,” Aguirre wrote in his ruling.

The ruling is a victory for Hutchens, who testified during the civil trial that she didn’t want to fire anyone but had no choice because of the department’s financial woes.

“As I have said both in court and publicly, my decision to lay off members of my command staff was solely based on financial considerations, not based on the performance of individual personnel,” Hutchens said in a statement Thursday night.

“In making these difficult decisions my ultimate goal was to preserve front-line services. Cutting top command staff positions enabled me to limit direct impacts to public safety.”

The lawsuit was filed by former assistant sheriffs Jack Anderson and John Davis, and former captains Brian Cossairt, Deana Bergquist and Robert Eason.

Joel W. Baruch, who represented the five administrators in the lawsuit, expressed disappointment at the judge’s verdict, saying it appeared to run counter to a previous appeal court ruling that the plaintiffs should have been able to challenge their dismissals.

“In our opinion, the trial court completely ignored the directions of our Court of Appeal,” Baruch said of Aguirre’s ruling. “This has resulted in a wrong decision, which may be appealed.”

During the non-jury trial, Baruch argued that the former law enforcement officials deserved $19 million to cover their lost income as well as penalties and emotional damage.

“They were unceremoniously dumped,” Baruch told the judge two weeks ago during the trial’s closing arguments. “Sheriff Sandra Hutchens lied to them about why she did what she did, so she could avoid hearings and oversight.”

Attorneys for the county told the judge they were shocked at the request for millions, arguing that the former assistant sheriffs and captains didn’t deserve any damages.

“Layoffs don’t happen because someone did something wrong and needs to be punished,” said S. Frank Harrell, an attorney hired by the county. “The sheriff didn’t want to lay anybody off. She was fighting for her men and women. She was fighting for their jobs.”

On Thursday night, attorney Norm Watkins praised the judge’s verdict.

“It is the correct analysis, and we have never thought otherwise,” said Watkins, who also represented the Sheriff’s Department.

Staff writer Tony Saavedra contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: semery@ocregister.com