Brutality Suit Enters New Phase : Court: The jury that awarded $15.9 million to 36 people who were arrested or beaten by deputies at a Cerritos house party will decide whether the Sheriff’s Department had a practice of physical abuse. The county has vowed to appeal the huge judgment.

A jury that awarded $15.9 million to 36 people who were beaten or arrested by sheriff’s deputies now must determine whether the Sheriff’s Department had a practice of brutality and whether individual deputies must pay punitive damages.

This new phase of the case begins today.

After a six-month trial and testimony from 110 witnesses, the jury issued its judgment against Los Angeles County on Monday. Individual awards ranged from $30,000 to nearly $3.9 million.

“We’re satisfied with the jury’s decision,” said the plaintiffs’ attorney, Garo Mardirossian. “But we certainly thought the value was greater. This is not your case of handcuff-and-throw-them-in-jail, it’s a case of serious brutality.”

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A lawyer for the Sheriff’s Department and the county, Paul Paquette, said he would appeal. He noted that an internal investigation found no wrongdoing by deputies.

The local Samoan American community was outraged after about 100 deputies in riot gear came to a Cerritos home on Feb. 11, 1989, leaving party-goers bruised and bloodied.

The deputies said they responded to reports of street fighting and were provoked when party-goers hurled rocks and bottles. But none of the dozens of people arrested were convicted; most charges were dropped.

One of those arrested was Emily Dole, a professional wrestler known as “Mount Fiji.” She was awarded $1.2 million.

In June, jurors found that the county and two dozen deputies had made false arrests, used unreasonable force and conspired to violate plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.

“Justice was served,” said plaintiff David Dole, who was awarded the largest amount.

“We’re just proud it came out this way,” he said. “It was just deputies overreacting to nothing.”