U.S. appeals court upholds $2-million verdict against L.A. County Sheriff’s Department

A federal appeals court Monday upheld a $2-million jury verdict against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for a man who suffered brain injury after being severely beaten in a West Hollywood jail.

The U.S. 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals decided 11-0 that the individual officers in the jail were liable and ruled 8-3 that the county also was liable for failing to protect the victim from another inmate.

The Sheriff’s Department arrested Jonathan Castro in 2009 for public drunkenness and placed him in a padded “sobering cell.”

Several hours later, Jonathan Gonzalez, a combative inmate arrested on a felony charge, was placed with Castro and beat him, according to the court.

Castro banged on the cell’s window to try to attract attention, but was ignored.

He was unconscious by the time deputies discovered him, spent almost a month in the hospital and four years in a long-term care facility, and continues to suffer from severe memory loss and other cognitive problems, the court said.

“The County of Los Angeles and the LASD had not equipped the cell with audio monitoring, and the cell was checked only sporadically,” Judge Susan P. Graber, a Clinton appointee, wrote for the majority of the 11-judge panel.

Judges Consuelo M. Callahan, Carlos T. Bea and Sandra S. Ikuta, appointed by former President George W. Bush, partially dissented.

They agreed that the individual deputies should be held liable but argued the evidence failed to show that Los Angeles County had demonstrated deliberate indifference by failing to install audio monitors in the cell or take other precautions to protect Castro.

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