A Los Angeles County Fire Department battalion chief who claimed he was passed over for a promotion to assistant fire chief because he is a white man just lost his discrimination lawsuit against the county. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel Crowley dismissed Dayton Calhoun's case this week, ruling that the county had a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for not selecting him and that Calhoun failed to prove otherwise.
According to MyNewsLA.com, Judge Crowley heard arguments on the county's motion to dismiss on Tuesday and issued his ruling the next day. In his decision, Crowley wrote that the plaintiff failed to meet his burden to produce substantial evidence that the county's reasons for not selecting him were pretextual or motivated by discrimination. The judge also found that Los Angeles County does not have a policy or practice that disproportionately disqualifies Caucasian candidates compared with non-Caucasian candidates.
Calhoun filed his lawsuit in December 2024, alleging that the department and Fire Chief Anthony Marrone used a discriminatory promotion scheme to circumvent a promotion he said he had earned. He claimed he exceeded the minimum requirements for the assistant fire chief role and scored high on the assistant fire chief examination, and he accused Marrone of favoring women and people of color for advancement. The lawsuit also alleged that the department's race- and gender-based candidate selection process disproportionately harmed qualified Caucasian men.
A Career Spanning the Marines and the Fire Service
Calhoun's career began long before he ever put on a Los Angeles County Fire Department uniform. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1994 and spent 11 years as a Marine Corps officer before joining the department in January 2006, the station's report notes. From there, he climbed the ranks steadily: promoted to firefighter specialist in 2011, to captain in 2014, and to battalion chief in 2020.
Calhoun's attorneys claimed Marrone, who was appointed fire chief by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, told the board he would work to make the department more inclusive of women and people of color in hiring and promotions. The attorneys further said Marrone often referred to himself as the “DEI fire chief” during meetings, according to the same account. Marrone, for his part, stated in a sworn declaration that he did not consider gender when selecting anyone for an acting assistant fire chief assignment or promotion.
Diversity Push Predates the Lawsuit
The dispute unfolded against the backdrop of a broader diversity initiative inside the department. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a comprehensive policy package in March 2023 aimed at improving diversity within the fire department, as reported by lapost.us. That package directed the department to create a Labor Management Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee with representation from underrepresented groups, including women, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals.
The 2023 measures also required the department to develop annual reports tracking race and gender demographic data at each stage of hiring, promotion, and termination, and directed the department to work with firefighters' union Local 1014 on the possibility of adopting the Firefighter Candidate Testing Center exam. KTLA reported the broader goal was to ensure equitable hiring, build a more inclusive workplace, and establish benchmarks and accountability for the department's diversity efforts.
Not the First Such Claim Against the Department
Calhoun's lawsuit is not the only reverse-discrimination complaint to surface against Los Angeles County's fire department in recent months. A retired assistant fire chief alleged in court papers this past summer that he faced disparate treatment as a white male and said he was denied promotions that went to less qualified candidates before retiring and moving out of state, MyNewsLA reported separately in July. Similar claims have surfaced elsewhere in the fire service: a federal judge in Arizona partially denied a motion to dismiss a Phoenix firefighter's reverse-discrimination claims earlier this year, according to Fire Law Blog.
Such disputes have surfaced in fire departments nationwide for years. In Connecticut, twenty white firefighters in New Haven settled a reverse-discrimination case with the city for $2 million in back pay, additional pension benefits, and interest, NPR reported in 2011. Calhoun's case ended differently: with Judge Crowley's dismissal this week, the county's position that no discriminatory policy or animus was at play prevailed in court.
