miguel monico department photo.jpg

Ex-Cornelius cop Miguel Monico, who was laid off from the Washington County Sheriff's Office in 2014, has filed a lawsuit against the law firm that represented him in a federal civil rights case.

(Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian)

A former Cornelius cop found by a federal civil jury to have fabricated evidence in a drug case has filed a $2 million malpractice suit against the law firm that represented him.

Miguel Monico alleges that he did not receive adequate representation from Miller & Wagner LLP in a complaint filed this week in Multnomah County Circuit Court. He claims his attorneys and the city's insurance provider failed to properly investigate the case or consider the career-ending potential of a jury verdict against him.

Monico's suit, which also alleges breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty, also names City County Insurance Services as a defendant. Robert Wagner, of Miller & Wagner LLP, was retained by the insurance company to represent Monico in the civil rights suit.

Wagner did not return messages seeking comment. Bill LaMarche, member relations manager for City County Insurance Services, said the company doesn't generally comment on pending litigation.

"However, what we can say is that Mr. Monico's allegations are baseless and that we plan to vigorously defend against them," LaMarche said.

Monico's complaint contends he has suffered from lost wages, emotional distress, humiliation and a damaged reputation.

In the federal lawsuit against Monico, Diego Mata-Gonzalez claimed the cop fabricated drug evidence against him. On Feb. 4, 2010, police served a search warrant at Mata-Gonzalez's home. During the search, police found a white powdery substance.

Three weeks later, on Feb. 26, Monico arrested Mata-Gonzalez on accusations of possessing and delivering cocaine and endangering the welfare of a minor, according to records. The arrest was based on the white powder.

According to Monico's account, Mata-Gonzalez told the officer that the powder was old cocaine that he'd forgotten about. A grand jury later indicted Mata-Gonzalez, and Monico was the only witness to testify during the proceeding.

The substance was sent to the state crime lab, where it tested negative for cocaine, and prosecutors dismissed the charges. According to Mata-Gonzalez's attorneys, the white powder was a bath product used by his wife.

In March 2011, Mata-Gonzalez filed his suit against Monico and the city of Cornelius. Two years later, a federal magistrate judge issued findings and recommendations about the case and wrote that a "finder of fact" could determine Monico lied about Mata-Gonzalez's confession and about a drug field test.

The recommendations prompted prosecutors to add Monico to the county's "Officer Alert List," which tracks cops who have had questions raised about their credibility. The list is commonly referred to as a Brady list because of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case.

The 1963 case, Brady v. Maryland, requires the state to provide defense counsel with evidence related to the credibility of a witness, including police officers.

In September 2014, jurors found that Monico had fabricated evidence in the case and awarded $30,000 to Mata-Gonzalez.

After the federal jury's decision, Monico was laid off from the Washington County Sheriff's Office because prosecutors would no longer call him as a witness. Monico joined the sheriff's office after the agency took over policing in Cornelius and all the city's cops became deputies.

District Attorney Bob Hermann told The Oregonian/OregonLive at the time that the jury verdict against Monico also prompted his office to drop two of the officer's cases.

In his complaint, Monico claims that an associate at the law firm that represented him in the Mata-Gonzalez suit acknowledged in "communication" with Monico's lawyer that he hadn't thought to warn the cop about the way the case could hurt his career.

"When a police officer is added to a Brady list, the officer's inability to testify prevents them from working in a traditional law enforcement role," Monico's lawsuit says. "Officers on a Brady list can be put in administrative roles or fired, and are generally unable to secure future employment in law enforcement."

The law firm should have encouraged the city's insurance provider to settle the case before a judge or jury "erroneously found Monico was dishonest or fabricated evidence," his suit alleges. The firm also should have reached a settlement with Mata-Gonzalez stipulating that Monico was not untruthful.

Monico's lawyers, he alleges, had told the insurance company they were not confident they'd win the case.

But the provider, he claims, "had an interest in minimizing its financial exposure to the Lawsuit, and Monico had an interest in staying off the Brady list at any cost."

Monico is being represented in his suit by Portland attorney Sean Riddell.

Monico started his law enforcement career in 1995, according to his lawsuit, and while working for the Federal Way Police Department in Washington state, he earned a Medal of Distinguished Service for Valor.

Monico allegedly failed a fit-for-duty psychological test at his Federal Way job before resigning, according to Federal Way records and a personnel investigation into the administration of the Cornelius Police Department. The officer also had been arrested in Washington state on a domestic violence charge, but wasn't prosecuted. He was hired by Cornelius police in 2008 after taking a couple years off from police work.

Monico had been one of four officers who in 2012 submitted a letter to city officials alleging ongoing corruption in the Cornelius Police Department.

In December 2013, Monico, along with former Cornelius Sgt. Shawn Watts, filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against the city. The suit claimed officials retaliated against them after they made the corruption allegations against the department.

Chad Jacobs, an attorney for the city of Cornelius, said a federal judge dismissed most of the claims against the city. The remaining counts, he said, were settled last year through the city's insurance provider for $7,500.

-- Rebecca Woolington

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