Santa Clara County has agreed to pay $7 million to resolve a lawsuit alleging that a man who fell in his jail cell three years in the past grew to become quadriplegic as a result of jail employees ignored his pleas for assist then improperly moved him regardless of being informed he might have a critical backbone damage.
The case of Juan Martin Nuñez gained public consideration final fall as a part of a wave of scrutiny on the county’s jail operations, initiated by the Board of Supervisors and spearheaded by board members Joe Simitian and Otto Lee. It was one in every of a number of cases of alleged neglect and misconduct the supervisors cited in requesting exterior probes from entities together with the state lawyer common, who final month launched a pattern-or-practice civil-rights investigation.
To this point essentially the most critical of the responses to the board’s actions has been a proper corruption accusation filed by the county civil grand jury towards longtime Sheriff Laurie Smith, which if affirmed by a trial jury would result in her elimination from workplace.
The Nuñez settlement, which grew to become public document Tuesday, is the second high-figure jail-neglect settlement by the county in latest reminiscence. In March 2020, the county paid a document $10 million to Andrew Hogan and his household to settle a lawsuit after the mentally ailing man grew to become severely disabled when he repeatedly injured himself whereas driving unrestrained in a jail transport van in August 2018.
Nuñez’s attorneys contended that jail employees “knew or ought to have recognized” that “Nuñez’s demonstrated historical past of self-harm, his placement in involuntary psychiatric custody, and his prescription of a robust anti-depressant have been all sturdy indicia of psychological instability,” and that they “ought to have positioned Mr. Nuñez’ below elevated supervision with a purpose to stop additional self-injury.”
After Nuñez suffered a fall in his cell in August 2019, his legal professionals attest that he screamed for deputies’ assist and mentioned he feared he may be paralyzed, however that a number of deputies lifted him onto his mattress with out stabilizing his backbone. Jail employees then waited greater than 24 hours earlier than calling paramedics, who additionally didn't correctly stabilize Nuñez, in response to his lawsuit.
The declare states that Nuñez “sustained extreme and everlasting accidents, together with spinal twine accidents which have left him a quadriplegic, unable to speak, and in want of a ventilator to breathe.”
The settlement settlement entails the county admitting no fault and paying $6,950,000 to Nuñez by his attorneys. The county had paid Nuñez $50,000 as a part of an interim settlement after he filed his preliminary declare towards the county.
In an announcement to this information group Tuesday, plaintiff lawyer Matthew Davis mentioned that whereas jail employees didn't straight trigger his shopper’s accidents, they “failed to reply appropriately to his preliminary accidents and thereby made them worse.”
“The sheriff and Santa Clara County Counsel did deal with Mr. Nuñez’s declare severely,” Davis wrote. “Mr. Nuñez could have no additional remark and he asks that he and his household be given privateness and he focuses on his restoration.”
Addressing the settlement, Simitian evoked the reminiscence of Michael Tyree, a mentally ailing man who was crushed to demise in 2015 on the Principal Jail by three correctional deputies who have been later convicted of homicide. Tyree’s demise led to a $3.6 million county settlement along with his household and spurred an array of proposed jail reforms and an elevated degree of scrutiny on jail situations that continues to today.
“Mr. Tyree, Mr. Hogan and Mr. Nunez. One life misplaced, two lives irreparably broken, and $20 million in taxpayer legal responsibility,” Simitian mentioned Tuesday. “One more tragic and expensive failure below the sheriff’s administration of the jail, and a painful reminder that these aren't remoted incidents. We want new management in our jails and we want it urgently.”
Lee added, “The truth that these are the problems that occur in our custodial operations is unacceptable and tragic. I’m hoping that by the investigation of each the grand jury and state lawyer common’s workplace, we'll capable of enhance our operations so these items won't occur once more.”
The sheriff’s workplace didn't instantly reply to a request for remark Tuesday.
Within the board’s referrals calling for out of doors investigations into the county jails, Simitian and Lee held up Nuñez’s case subsequent to Hogan’s in asserting a sample of troubling conduct and tradition. The board additionally tasked Michael Gennaco, who heads the county’s Workplace of County Regulation Enforcement Monitoring — a civilian auditor function — with discovering out why an inner investigation into Hogan’s case was abruptly ended and why no critical self-discipline was issued, even after video footage confirmed a number of jail deputies and supervisors standing exterior Hogan’s van as he screamed for assist earlier than lapsing into unconsciousness from critical head accidents.
Gennaco’s investigation has been difficult by a stalemate over information entry with Smith’s workplace, to the purpose the place Gennaco has issued subpoenas to proceed his probe. Simitian and Lee raised suspicion of their referral that the aborted inner investigation may need affected by the actual fact a commander on scene was Amy Le, who was then president of the correctional deputies union that might endorse and financially assist Smith’s 2018 re-election bid.
Le has denied any favor-trading, and simply months after Hogan’s damage and after Smith’s re-election to a sixth time period, she resigned and claimed she was compelled out after a falling out with Smith’s administration that prompted her to sue her former employer for retaliation and discrimination. The lawsuit was formally settled final month for $140,000. Neither Le nor her lawyer supplied touch upon the settlement.
One of many causes that Hogan’s case continues to linger within the public sphere is that it was the premise of one of many accusations filed by the civil grand jury, which particularly alleges that she is resisting Gennaco’s investigation. The remainder of the civil grand jury’s corruption accusations contain the circumstances behind two legal corruption indictments that ensnared two of Smith’s high commanders, with jurors alleging Smith engaged in political favoritism and traded favors by leveraging her management over issuing concealed-carry weapons permits.
Test again later for updates to this story.