Los Angeles is asking a judge to throw out former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley's whistleblower lawsuit over her removal after the Palisades Fire.

City attorneys argue Crowley was a high-ranking policymaker who clashed with the mayor, not a protected employee raising safety alarms.

The city filed the motion on Saturday, Sept. 12, in Los Angeles Superior Court, the Westside Current reported. Judge Kristin S. Escalante is scheduled to hear the dismissal request on Dec. 11.

Crowley sued the city on Feb. 20, alleging Mayor Karen Bass retaliated against her for warning City Hall about staffing shortages, broken equipment and budget cuts at the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD). She claims the retaliation violated the state Labor Code and the California Constitution.

The city's filing counters that Crowley held a "high-level policymaking position" and that her public disagreements with Bass amounted to policy disputes, not legally protected whistleblowing. City attorneys also argued Crowley never reported illegal conduct or refused an order to break the law.

Bass removed Crowley as fire chief on Feb. 21, 2025, after the Palisades Fire burned more than 23,000 acres, killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of structures. The mayor accused Crowley of failing to provide effective leadership during the January 2025 windstorm, failing to deploy 1,000 firefighters who could have been on duty and refusing to prepare an after-action report.

Crowley's lawsuit counters that Bass and her administration cut the LAFD's operating budget by $17.6 million for fiscal year 2024–2025 and eliminated positions critical to maintaining fire engines, trucks and ambulances. Crowley said she submitted detailed annual reports warning city leaders about aging infrastructure, declining staffing and increasing emergency calls.

The staffing dispute remains a central flashpoint. Bass said in late August that 1,000 firefighters were sent home "on Chief Crowley's watch." Crowley told the City Council the department "did not have enough apparatus to put them on," citing more than 100 broken-down vehicles, as reported Aug. 31 by the Santa Monica Daily Press.

Yusef Robb, senior adviser to Bass, has previously called the lawsuit meritless. The Westside Current reported Robb said Crowley was removed for her failure to deploy in advance and her decision to send 1,000 firefighters home instead of keeping them on duty the morning the fires broke out.

No public response from Crowley's attorneys to the Sept. 12 motion was available.

The Los Angeles City Council upheld Bass's decision to remove Crowley in a 13-2 vote in 2025. Crowley remains employed by the LAFD as an assistant chief in the Valley Bureau. She also filed a separate defamation lawsuit against Bass in June.

The Dec. 11 hearing before Judge Escalante will determine whether the whistleblower case moves forward.