The former executive assistant to Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. was ordered to pay $217,4040 in a recent ruling in her ongoing wrongful termination lawsuit against the City.
Judge Lia Martin ruled on March 5 that she granted evidence and monetary sanctions against Melanie McDade in the amount of $217,404 and also bars her from introducing any new evidence in her lawsuit where she alleges she was terminated after ending her sexual relationship with Butts.
The City’s attorneys lauded the sanctions as “decisive” where they allege McDade committed loan fraud when she purchased a new home with documents the City alleges were fraudulent.
McDade first filed her suit in Jan. 2021 with the City serving 30 requests for the production of documents related to the claims related to why she was terminated.
The minute order details that McDade was uncooperative with providing the requested documents and refusing to sit for depositions. As the process continued to be delayed, McDade changed attorneys to Janet Ariza of Martin & Martin LLP, which further delayed the process of the City obtaining key documents under a previous court order.
“Instead, Plaintiff [McDade] filed an Application for a Domestic Violence Restraining Order against the Mayor based on the same allegations as in this case. The Mayor’s counsel sent a letter informing her counsel that Plaintiff’s own deposition testimony contradicted the allegations and demanding she dismiss the Application.”
The court denied the application because McDade could not pinpoint with specificity anything that [the Mayor] had done that was actual harassment to her, and despite claiming there were witnesses to the alleged harassment/abuse, she did not produce a single witness or any “evidence that proves that these things happened.”
The minute order details that the City sought documents in connection with McDade’s home loan from multiple lenders who all alleged the documents were either “lost or misplaced”.
“Between February and July 2022, Defendants tried to subpoena the loan documents from Plaintiffs lenders, OCMBC, Inc. (“OCMBC”) and We Loan Money, Inc. (“WLM”), and her broker, Park Place Realty Group (“PPRG”).
Text messages between McDade and a PPRG broker include screenshots of the loan application along with a conversation where they discuss McDade’s prior loan application and show how Plaintiff pressured her subordinate to cosign in exchange for helping the subordinate’s son get into the City’s First-Time Home Buyer Program.
“If her claim that she no longer has these documents is true, then Plaintiff spoliated (destroyed)this evidence.”
According to Ariza, the owner of WLM, “replied with a declaration that all documents had been “lost/misplaced.”
OCMBC never responded to multiple emails requesting the loan documents.
OCMBC’s president Serene Vernon, who had been president of the lender for six years, was recently placed on administrative leave after she was charged with murder and driving under the influence last month.
“Ms. Ariza then provided declarations from Plaintiff, stating that she had diligently searched, given all records “relating to OCMBC” to her attorneys, and had never “contacted,” “been contacted by,” “done business with,” or “been a customer of’ WLM. Ms. Ariza also provided a sworn declaration that she produced all OCMBC documents and had requested more, but OCMBC did not return her calls or produce anything. She also attested that WLM told her the “home loan officer, Tomas” would call her back, but he did not respond when she followed up, so she “did not receive any records.”
The City then produced evidence that McDade not only borrowed money from WLM, but she had a close relationship with the “home loan officer” who also owned WLM, who attested that all documents about Plaintiff’s loan have been “lost/misplaced.”
According to the minute order, “McDade produced text messages [between her and the home loan officer/owner], in which they discussed using the WLM loan to misrepresent the source of funds for her down payment to OCMBC.”
The text messages indicate he was the source that referred her to his “uncle” who was McDade’s first attorney of record when the case was initially filed. The attorney has since filed a lien against the case for services rendered.
WLM had a history of working with the Inglewood Housing Authority when it screened applicants for the home repair program while McDade served as the department’s interim director.
Publicly available documents indicate the co-owner of WLM also served as a member of the City’s housing advisory commission.
The court determined that McDade destroyed and spoliated documents related to the case and was unable to rebut the evidence the City had which they say corroborates her termination. The Court also determined McDade willfully violated three Court Orders to comply.
McDade’s attorney has announced his intention to file an appeal which would halt the payment of the sanctions while the appeal is taken into consideration.
