On October 25, 2010, an inmate at the LA County Men's Central Jail filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The plaintiff sued Los Angeles County under 42 U.S.C. §1983. Represented by private counsel, he sought damages for alleged violations of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as California state law. Specifically, the plaintiff claimed that sheriff deputies used excessive force when the deputies beat him while he was handcuffed. The unprovoked attack caused severe injuries.

On May 23, 2011, Magistrate Judge Paul L. Abrams issued an order compelling the disclosure of some discovery material requested by the plaintiff but also denying portions of the request.

On October 12, 2011, Magistrate Abrams granted the defendants' motion for a protective to stop the deposition of one party witness and one nonparty witness, but did denied the defendants' motion for two other nonparty witnesses. 2011 WL 7128640 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 12, 2011).

On December 15, 2011, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment on twelve separate grounds, including that all of the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity. On February 23, 2012, Judge George H. Wu circulated a tentative ruling denying in part and granting in part the motion for summary judgement. Judge Wu allowed the parties to file three-page briefs regarding the points raised in the tentative ruling. In particular, Judge Wu denied the defendants qualified immunity. On April 12, 2012, Judge Wu issued a final ruling granting in part and denying in part the motion for summary judgment, including denying qualified immunity.

On May 9, 2012, defendants filed an interlocutory appeal of the denial of qualified immunity in the tentative rulings filed in February and March, 2012. On June 29, 2012, the parties agreed to a stipulated stay pending the appeal, and on July 6, 2012, Judge Wu granted the stay.

While the appeal was pending, the parties settled the case and agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice on April 1, 2013. The LA County Sheriff's Department agreed to pay $475,000. The settlement has not been made public. The Ninth Circuit dismissed the case because the settlement mooted the appeal. On April 3, 2013, the district court dismissed the case with prejudice.

In December 2013, one of the deputies (Deputy Fernando Luviano) who beat the plaintiff was included in a group of 18 L.A. County Sheriff's Department employees federally indicted in criminal cases alleging various types of misconduct, including abusing inmates and visitors and trying to intimidate a federal agent. (He was not indicted for this incident but for other later incidents of abuse.) The L.A. Times reports that he was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Jessica Kincaid - 01/06/2016


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