Defending Sheriff’s Department against lawsuits cost L.A. County more than $100 million
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- The county spent $229 million on legal payouts and lawyer bills last fiscal year. Nearly half of that money — $112 million — went to defend the Sheriff’s Department against lawsuits, a 12% uptick from the year before.
- The county spent nearly $90 million on outside law firms, accounting for more than a third of its total legal spending.
L.A. County spent more than $112 million defending the Sheriff’s Department against lawsuits last fiscal year, more than five times the legal expenses of any other county agency.
According to an annual tally of the county’s legal spending released this week, about $229 million went to legal payouts and lawyer bills from July 1, 2024, to the end of last June. Nearly half of that money was spent on the Sheriff’s Department, which was the subject of a string of multimillion-dollar settlements in which deputies were accused of excessive force. Legal costs for the department increased by more than $12 million from the prior year, the report found.
Of the eight costliest settlements involving the county, six involved the Sheriff’s Department. These included a $7-million payout for a shooting in a parking garage that left a man paralyzed, $17.2 million for a car crash that involved a deputy driving twice the posted speed limit, and a $25-million settlement that went to an autistic man who was shot in his home.
That payout, the costliest of the period, stemmed from a March 2021 911 call for Isaias Cervantes, a deaf man who was in the throes of a mental health crisis. His sister asked the dispatcher whether deputies could take him to a hospital after he’d grown aggressive with their mother.
According to video of the incident released by the department, the deputies went into the house where Cervantes was seated on the couch. After they tried to handcuff him, a struggle ensued and one deputy said Cervantes tried to grab his gun. The other deputy shot Cervantes, leaving him permanently paralyzed.
The Sheriff’s Department determined that the deputies involved, David Vega and Jonathan Miramontes, did not violate its use-of-force policies.
The department said in a statement that most of the incidents summarized in the report took place more than three years ago. In the last year, the department said, deputy-involved shootings and use-of-force incidents have decreased.
“While these cases often take years to fully resolve, the Department uses those incidents as opportunities to learn and improve the way we serve our community,” the department said. “Over the past three years, the Sheriff’s Department has advanced meaningful reforms, including updating policies, upgrading training and technology, and increased accountability.”
The county counsel’s office said in a statement it “takes seriously the responsibility of accurately and transparently reporting the litigation costs of the County” and is committed to addressing “the root causes that lead to judgments and settlements.”
Sheriff’s legal spending is down slightly from two years ago, when the agency spent $150 million on legal defense, in part because of a $53-million settlement over strip-search practices in the women’s jail.
Outside law firms continued to account for a significant chunk of the county’s legal spending, according to the report. Of the roughly $229 million in legal spending, nearly 40% — $89.3 million — went to outside law firms, which the county routinely taps to help defend against lawsuits. The amount spent on outside firms steadily has ticked up over the last four years. In the fiscal year ending June 2022, the county spent about $49 million on outside lawyers, with the total spent rising every year since.
The report does not mention the nearly $4.5 billion the county agreed to pay to resolve thousands of claims of sexual abuse in foster homes and juvenile halls. That money, which will be paid out over five years, is expected to start being distributed to victims this year.
The settlement is a result of Assembly Bill 218, a law that changed the statute of limitations for victims to sue over childhood sexual abuse. Since then, the county has been flooded with lawsuits alleging abuse in juvenile facilities operated by the probation department.
According to the report, the probation department was served with 1,984 lawsuits last year. The year prior, the department received 304 lawsuits.
Former Times staff writer Keri Blakinger contributed to this report.
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