The City of Los Angeles is asking a judge to throw out most of a municipal pool lifeguard’s lawsuit that accuses her supervisor of sexually assaulting her in a park restroom in 2025. The plaintiff, identified in court papers only as Jane Doe, says she resigned on Dec. 1, 2025 after a series of workplace problems and what she describes as a lack of support from the Department of Recreation and Parks. She is seeking unspecified damages from the city and punitive damages from the supervisor named in the case.
What the city filed
In a motion submitted this week ahead of a September 28 hearing, the City Attorney’s Office asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Steve Cochran to dismiss several of Doe’s claims, including gender discrimination, retaliation, assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil rights violations and negligent hiring and supervision, as reported by MyNewsLA. The city argues the complaint does not adequately allege that Doe was treated differently because she is a woman, or that she suffered the kind of adverse employment action needed to support a retaliation claim. The filing also contends that several of her causes of action are common law claims that cannot be brought against a public entity in California.
Why the city argues the claims are barred
California law sharply limits when cities and other public entities can be sued in tort and generally requires a specific statute authorizing liability, a principle set out in Government Code §815. Citing that statute and related case law, the City Attorney’s Office is urging the court to cut back or dismiss several of Doe’s claims on the ground that common law causes of action ordinarily cannot be maintained against a government defendant.
What Doe alleges
According to the lawsuit, filed April 1, 2026, Doe was hired in 2019 as a locker room attendant and later promoted to lifeguard. She says she had a consensual dating relationship with supervisor Diego Martinez that ended in February 2025. After that, she alleges, Martinez repeatedly made sexually charged propositions, then approached her and sexually assaulted her in a park restroom during a 2025 shift. Doe says the department responded by transferring her to another site instead of keeping her safe. She ultimately quit on Dec. 1, 2025. The complaint seeks unspecified damages from the city and punitive damages from Martinez, who, according to the City Attorney’s Office, had not yet been served with the lawsuit at the time of the filing, as reported by MyNewsLA.
Where the transfer landed
Doe says that after the alleged assault she was reassigned to Glassell Park. The Glassell Park Recreation Center and pool are operated by the City’s Department of Recreation and Parks and list their main facility on Verdugo Road in Northeast Los Angeles, according to the department. The Recreation and Parks facility page provides the center’s and pool’s contact information and posted hours.
A wider pattern
Municipal aquatics programs in other cities have faced comparable accusations, sometimes ending in big payouts and policy overhauls. In Chicago, the Park District agreed to a multimillion dollar settlement after former lifeguards reported grooming, exploitation and sexual assault by supervisors, a scandal that triggered leadership changes and reforms, as reported by WBEZ. Those kinds of outcomes highlight the financial and reputational risks local governments face when workplace misconduct claims surface.
What comes next
The city’s motion is set for a September 28 hearing. If Judge Cochran concludes that the complaint does not establish a statutory basis for holding the city liable, some of Doe’s claims against the municipality could be dismissed, while her personal claims against the supervisor might continue. The case is still in its early phases, and the scope of what moves forward will depend on future filings, proof that the defendants have been served and the judge’s ruling on the city’s motion.
