Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. released the findings of a so-called “independent investigation” into allegations made by Councilwoman Gloria Gray which has raised more questions than answers.
The investigation was led by Nancy Doumanian, who the mayor called a “super lawyer” but according to a local judge, she is only about the money and doesn’t perform her job well.
An article in the Los Angeles Times revealed Doumanian represented Burbank Unified School District in 2014 when an employee alleged she was sexually assaulted by the district’s facilities director. The judge chastised Doumanian for driving up legal fees after not properly filing documents with the court.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mary Ann Murphy said she was puzzled over why the district would retain her [Doumanian’s] firm, noting that her decision to grant the $3.2 million in attorney fees was because Doumanian’s law firm consistently filed documents late and without proper citations, ultimately increasing the cost of litigation.
“For whatever reason, the Burbank Unified School District has decided … to retain Ms. Doumanian’s law firm, and the litigation has been replete with rule violations necessitating extra time and work on the plaintiff’s side, and certainly on the court’s,” Murphy stated in 2014.
Appeals court affirms $3.2M legal fee award to former Burbank Unified employee in sex-abuse case
According to Butts, Doumanian was selected by City Manager Mark Weinberg. Weinberg appears to be in collusion with Butts when he allowed Rick Olivarez to be chosen as the current City Attorney despite the City’s charter explicitly stating the position is to be held by a civil service employee. Olivarez’s law firm currently represents the City in an ongoing dispute with the mayor’s former assistant/girlfriend Melanie McDade which is driving up legal fees as they continue to fight it. Sounds eerily familiar to what Doumanian was doing in Burbank.
Butts attached a letter from Doumanian stating Gray’s allegations were unfounded but made no mention of speaking to witnesses that were allegedly present during two incidents Gray spoke of.
Gray alleged that the mayor screamed at her so loudly in her office that she had to ask him to leave and that employees heard this. Did Doumanian interview every employee on the 9th floor of City Hall who were at work during that time? Or would they be truthful if asked?
The last time an employee participated in an internal investigation, and corroborated the relationship between the mayor and his assistant Melanie McDade, not only did she keep her job after Councilman Ralph Franklin retired, she was just promoted to deputy to the city manager.
Gray also alleged she was attending a teleconference with a business when the mayor burst in and started screaming at her. Did Doumanian interview the individuals the councilwoman was meeting with?
Gray also alleged the mayor is breaking local, state, and federal laws, however, Doumanian only focused on the friendship Butts and Gray previously shared. Doumanian found the mayor didn’t break any City policies but what policies exist covering the council members and mayor outside of those in the Inglewood Municipal Code and/or City Charter that they have a penchant for ignoring.
Just because the mayor was previously invited to her house and comforted her when her partner died, doesn’t mean things haven’t changed since then.
Finally, Gray alleged she feared for her safety which is subjective in nature. She didn’t allege the mayor put his hands on her and/or brandished a weapon in her presence so Doumanian concluded that her allegation had no merit.
Based on a judge saying Doumaninan worked on behalf of Burbank to drive up legal fees, which some could allude to a “kickback” of sorts, it appears that Weinberg didn’t truly find an independent attorney to investigate these claims and this attorney was only chosen so the mayor could publicly declare his innocence.
The Doumanian firm has NEVER appeared on an Inglewood city council agenda to perform legal work on behalf of the City and was most likely given a short-form agreement which is not publicly available to review.
It’s equally suspicious that Doumanian provided the results of her “investigation” to both Butts and Gray to their personal email accounts as opposed to addressing the findings to their official City email accounts or to Weinberg and Olivarez.
It will be interesting to see how much this “investigation” costs taxpayers once the bill hits the agenda for payment approval. The City has resorted to not voting to approve City payments during council meetings but only to “receive and file” the warrant register.
The only thing this investigation revealed is that there is tension between Gray and Councilwoman Dionne Faulk.
The leadership in Inglewood is truly dysfunctional when the mayor uses taxpayer funds to hire persons whose sole job is to keep him shielded from scrutiny and not hold him accountable for his “management style.”
To put this into perspective, the mayor has cost the City upwards of $16 million in legal fees and settlements related to an accident he had in a city-owned vehicle only for Weinberg to continue allowing him free reign of another city-owned vehicle, city-owned fuel, and City provided insurance at our expense.
In return, Weinberg enjoys the comfort of collecting a full retirement from Inglewood AND a full-time salary as city manager.
The leadership in Inglewood is a farce when the mayor has hand-selected “yes men” who appear to only care about money as opposed to following the law which will ultimately cost taxpayers in the end.
1 Comment
The motto of Butts administration is “Illusion”.
Since there were no interviews indicated – it appears Nancy will be paid basically to ask Butts what to put in print and to ask Gloria if Jimmy maybe took flowers when her husband died as a show of support…Really this appears as nothing more than a gift of taxpayer funds.
Asking a bully if he is a bully rarely results in a truthful answer .
Thank you for sharing about Dourmanian’s role in the Burbank School District Case.
Unfortunately the true magnitude of what /how taxpayers were fleeced
got lost in the salacious greed for billable hours by Nancy Dourmanian.
Schools should be about educating children not enriching attorneys but Nancy made a mint off simple case.
The actual Burbank employee only recieved $200,000.00 for the overtly in print sexual suggestion which NO EMPLOYEE should ever have to see or any authority figure ever consider be acceptable at any time no matter what !!
So “harrassment not tolerable” statement aside…the audacity that Any Attorney much less a female drag the court case on for 7 (yes, seven) long years to bill hours is a SMACK IN THE FACE to every INGLEWOOD RESIDENT.
Yes, the Burbank school district paid $3 million in attorney fees. Yes for the number challenged a zero makes a big difference ($3,000,000.00).
That this attorney was hired by any other taxpayer organization (City of Inglewood) should have alarms and sirens blaring – the wrong folks are making decisions !!
NO ONE with such an easily traceable track record of abuse of public funds SHOULD HAVE BEEN HIRED.
That “Nancy Dourmanian” was awarded any contract screams at the failure of the current City Manager, the City Attorney, and of course each of the council members who went along with the selection!!!!!!!
Clearly given her history Dourmanian holds her bank account far more important than truth, or decency.
As for the work product – Thank you 2 urban girls for pointing out there is zero evidence that anyone was questioned.
While many will attest most employees would feel pressured to lie for the Mayor to avoid being treated unkindly. He did publicly reprimand Sabrina Barnes for answering a question asked by a councilmember. Many remember his publicly calling former Councilmember Dunlap names, but the persons on the phone and others who have heard insults need not fear for their jobs.!!
Dionne Faulk, Eloy Morales, and Alex Paddilla have acted shamefully. They should be questions, afterall they are accepting salaries and should be held accountable by residents not the mayor.
Any 6th grader would know enough to ask questions!!
Creation of jobs / contracts for Friends and Family is NOT in best interest of residents.