Los Angeles city attorneys are asking a judge to delay the trial of a former fire department administrator who claims she was fired after reporting financial misconduct by then-Chief Kristin Crowley. Jenny Park's lawsuit, filed in December 2024, is currently scheduled to go to trial on December 7, 2026, but the city wants at least a 120-day postponement, citing unfinished discovery in the case.
According to MyNewsLA.com, the city filed the request with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Colin Leis, arguing it cannot properly prepare for trial without Park's testimony and documents. A hearing on the city's motion is scheduled for Sunday. City attorneys said Park's deposition, set for September 15, will establish her factual contentions, the scope of damages she claims, and the identity of witnesses and documents she intends to rely on at trial.
Park's deposition is described by the city as the predicate for written discovery, third-party subpoenas and expert work still to come. Crowley herself is scheduled for a deposition on August 26, while Orin Saunders, the chief deputy commanding LAFD's administrative operations bureau, is set to be deposed on September 11, per the same account.
Allegations of Retaliation and an Unreturned Overpayment
Park's lawsuit alleges she was fired by then-Chief Crowley after speaking out against alleged financial misconduct and department backlash. The suit describes Park as an exemplary LAFD civilian employee and the highest-ranking Asian and female civilian in the department.
Central to Park's complaint is an allegation that Crowley received a significant payroll overpayment in error and failed to repay the city, despite Park's role flagging the issue. The Western Journal reported in January 2025 that the overpayment at issue was approximately $37,000, and that Crowley ignored Park's repeated reminders to return the funds before Park was terminated. Park alleges that Crowley and Saunders retaliated against her after her complaints, removing her supervisory functions over risk management, employee relations and human resources, excluding her from staff meetings and interview panels, and directing colleagues not to engage with her. The lawsuit further alleges that Crowley and Saunders tried to embarrass Park in front of others and that she was terminated nine months after she first raised her concerns.
A Department Still Reeling From the Palisades Fire
Park's firing predates the catastrophic Palisades Fire, which broke out on January 7, 2025, and burned 23,448 acres, killed 12 people and destroyed 6,837 structures across Pacific Palisades and Malibu before reaching full containment by the end of that month, according to the Los Angeles Times. Combined with the Eaton Fire in Altadena, the regional fires killed 29 people and burned more than 37,000 acres, the paper reported. Mayor Karen Bass removed Crowley as LAFD chief in February 2025 over her handling of the fire response, though Crowley still works within the department.
Crowley has since fought back on multiple legal fronts. She filed a whistleblower claim against the city in February 2025 alleging Bass orchestrated a retaliatory campaign to scapegoat her for fire response failures while Bass was attending an official event in Ghana, according to the Los Angeles Times. CalMatters reported that political scrutiny over Bass's absence centered on her attendance at a January 7, 2025 ceremony in Ghana, an international trip critics seized on despite red-flag fire conditions back home, even though Bass had pledged as a candidate to limit international travel.
In June, Crowley escalated further by filing a defamation lawsuit directly against Bass personally, alleging the mayor made false, campaign-tailored statements blaming Crowley for inoperable fire engines and deployment decisions during the fire, as the Los Angeles Times reported. Crowley is seeking out-of-pocket damages, arguing Bass's campaign statements were not protected by governmental immunity. Bass appointed Jaime Moore as the department's 20th fire chief following Crowley's removal, and the Los Angeles City Council unanimously confirmed him on November 14, 2025, making him the second permanent Latino and first bilingual chief in department history, according to the City of Los Angeles.
Ongoing Scrutiny of LAFD Finances and Transparency
Moore's tenure has already been marked by controversy of its own. In January, he admitted that an internal after-action report on the Palisades Fire had been watered down to shield senior leadership from criticism, but declined calls for an internal investigation into who made the edits, the Los Angeles Times reported, following reporting that senior officials had ignored firefighter warnings about smoldering burn areas before reignition.
Payroll issues have also drawn public attention. Public records released in July revealed that LAFD Battalion Chief Nicholas Ferrari earned nearly $1 million in total pay in 2025, including more than $653,000 in overtime, as the understaffed department leaned on mandatory overtime to fill open positions, according to CBS Los Angeles. Separately, the city's 2024 transition to the Workday payroll system produced roughly 3,000 initial salary and bonus calculation discrepancies across municipal agencies, requiring extensive reconciliation between LAFD and LAPD records, per Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions documents. In April 2025, Bass proposed adding 227 new LAFD positions in the city budget, including firefighters, EMTs and mechanics, to address the department's operational deficits despite a citywide budget shortfall.
Park's case is one of several ongoing disputes involving LAFD leadership; a suspended union chief also sued Bass over alleged retaliation tied to staffing shortages and Crowley's dismissal, as Hoodline previously reported. With Park's deposition and those of Crowley and Saunders all pending in the coming weeks, the outcome of the city's delay request at Sunday's hearing will determine whether the December trial date holds.
