S.F. settles suit against Police Chief Greg Suhr for $725,000

S.F. Police Chief Greg Suhr during a news conference speaks about an audit of the crime lab's DNA unit, which has come under fire for faking results, as well as other police misconduct, at the Hall of Justice, Friday, April 3, 2015, in San Francisco, Calif. less S.F. Police Chief Greg Suhr during a news conference speaks about an audit of the crime lab's DNA unit, which has come under fire for faking results, as well as other police misconduct, at the Hall of Justice, ... more Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close S.F. settles suit against Police Chief Greg Suhr for $725,000 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The city of San Francisco agreed to a $725,000 settlement Friday for a former Police Department attorney who said Police Chief Greg Suhr fired her for exposing his mishandling of a domestic violence case.

The settlement was reached as jury selection was about to begin in Kelly O’Haire’s lawsuit against the city and Suhr.

The city contended Suhr dismissed O’Haire as part of an overall cost-cutting effort when he became chief in 2011. But a judge refused to dismiss the suit last month, and said a jury could conclude, based on O’Haire’s version of the facts, that Suhr had retaliated against her illegally.

“After a long and hard-fought struggle, she’s finally achieved resolution of her case, and she’s pleased with the results,” said O’Haire’s lawyer, Randy Strauss.

Matt Dorsey, spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera, said the city had agreed to the settlement after learning that O’Haire, unlike other Police Department employees who had been fired or demoted at the same time, hadn’t been allowed to stay at work for an additional period so that she could increase her retirement benefits.

He said Suhr hadn’t been aware of the situation at the time, and would have accommodated O’Haire if he’d known.

“We have done everything we can to make sure the claim was addressed fairly and put the matter behind us,” Dorsey said.

Suhr, reached by phone, declined to comment further.

The city’s account was disputed by O’Haire’s former colleague Richard Nichelman, who was laid off by Suhr at the same time O’Haire was fired. Nichelman, who was the Police Department’s support services director, said in an interview Friday that a manager had told him without advance notice that he had to leave his office that afternoon, the same account O’Haire gave in a sworn declaration.

“It had nothing to do with retirement. Nothing like that happened,” Nichelman said. He said no one had ever offered him a chance to increase his benefits by temporarily remaining at work.

Battering allegation

The lawsuit stemmed from an incident that happened in 2009. Suhr, now 56, was a deputy police chief when a friend phoned him and said her boyfriend had battered and choked her.

Suhr went to see her and urged her to make a formal police complaint. But, contrary to binding Police Department policy, he did not attempt to arrest the boyfriend or file a report himself.

O’Haire was then a civilian attorney handling discipline cases for the Police Department. In a formal complaint with the Police Commission, she said Suhr should be fired because of his handling of the incident and his previous record, which included criminal charges of covering up a beating administered by three off-duty officers who supposedly wanted their victims’ bag of fajitas. A judge dismissed those charges.

Police Chief Heather Fong demoted Suhr to captain after O’Haire filed her complaint. But while the disciplinary case was pending, Fong retired and was replaced by George Gascón, with whom Suhr negotiated a five-day suspension.

After Gascón was elected district attorney in 2011, Mayor Ed Lee promoted Suhr to police chief. Less than three weeks later, Suhr fired O’Haire and her supervisor.

$1 million cost-cutting

In court papers seeking to dismiss O’Haire’s suit, Herrera’s office said the firings were part of a $1 million cost-cutting effort that also included waiving Suhr’s bonus and having him drive a cheaper car.

The city’s lawyers accused O’Haire of sloppy legal work and said she had no basis for claiming Suhr had violated any law in the domestic-violence case.

But Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith said in a March 19 ruling that jurors could find that “the timing of the termination decision was suspicious.” He noted that it came after Suhr had been demoted and suspended for the incident, which O’Haire had investigated, and then had been promoted to chief.

The judge also cited an alleged warning to O’Haire by a lawyer representing Suhr. O’Haire said the attorney, James Collins — now a Superior Court judge — told her while she was looking into Suhr’s conduct in 2009 that she was risking her career.

Christine Falvey, a spokeswoman for Lee, declined to comment on the settlement, but said the mayor remains confident that “the chief is leading the department in the right direction.”

Suhr also got a renewed endorsement from Supervisor Scott Wiener, who called him “one of the best chiefs of police I have seen.” Wiener, a former deputy city attorney, said he recalled “times when I settled cases even when we didn’t think we did anything wrong.”

UC Berkeley investigator

O’Haire said she has been unable to find employment as a lawyer since her dismissal. Strauss said O’Haire now works as an investigator for UC Berkeley.

O’Haire spent nine years as a police officer and more than 10 years as a Marin County deputy district attorney before joining the San Francisco Police Department as an attorney in 2006. She was supervisor of the risk management division when she was fired.

Chronicle staff writers Emily Green and Jaxon Van Derbeken contributed to this report.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: egelko@sfchronicle.com