Top woman in Seal Beach police history sues city, citing gender bias

The highest-ranking female law enforcement officer in Seal Beach is suing the city, alleging that a toxic culture has taken root in the Police Department where she's been subjected to blatant sexism and harassment for years.

- HANNAH FRY

AMONG the claims in Lt. Julia Clasby's suit is that her husband was asked if it was OK to promote her.

Lt. Julia Clasby, who also serves as the department’s public information officer, alleges in the lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court last week that she was passed up for promotions, disparaged for being a mother and denied training opportunities that were routinely provided to her male colleagues.

Clasby is seeking unspecified monetary damages, including for past and future lost wages, pension benefits and emotional distress.

The lawsuit lays out years’ worth of discrimination allegations that culminated in what her attorney argues are baseless retaliatory internal affairs investigations probing her conduct. Clasby was previously employed as an officer in Laguna Beach, where she worked on several high-profile cases, including one involving John Meehan, who was later the subject of a series of L.A. Times articles and a Bravo television show.

In April, Clasby was named one of Assemblymember Diane Dixon's (R-Newport Beach) women of the year for her work within the Police Department.

"Lt. Clasby has devoted her entire professional life to work in law enforcement. She loves it. That’s all she wants to do. That’s all she’s been trying to do. What she’s asking for is simply the ability to do that in a professional, normal working environment," Clasby’s attorney, Jon King, said in an interview with The Times.