National City

A former San Diego and National City police officer’s defamation suit against author Joseph Wambaugh was reinstated Tuesday by a state appellate court, renewing a legal battle over “Lines and Shadows,” Wambaugh’s 1984 book about the short-lived Border Alien Robbery Force.

Kenneth Kelly, a member of the elite squad, alleges in a $91-million lawsuit that he lost his job with the National City Police Department a few weeks after publication of the book. He accused Wambaugh and his publishers of slander and libel, saying the book portrayed him as “frivolous, flippant and irresponsible” and was riddled with false statements, inaccuracies and fabrications.

A Superior Court judge dismissed the suit, finding that Kelly, who was paid $5,000 by Wambaugh, had signed a waiver agreeing to his portrayal and the book’s publication.

But the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that a trial court should determine whether Kelly gave up his right to privacy and his protections against defamation of character by signing the waiver.