L.A. County to pay $47.6 million over alleged misconduct by sheriff’s deputies
A group of elected representatives in Los Angeles County has filed a lawsuit against the sheriff over his handling of deputies accused of misconduct.
L.A. County to pay $47.6 million over alleged misconduct by deputies
L.A. County supervisors have received the first batch of payments from a federal settlement resulting from a class-action lawsuit over the alleged abuse and cover-up of deputies by former Sheriff Sherman Block.
Block, now the sheriff of San Bernardino County, is accused of ordering deputies not to seek out or report a tip without a supervisor’s approval, as well as paying them through a secret account to cover up their wrongdoing.
But those in the class action claim that, over the course of three years, the deputies never learned that there were problems with their work and that the sheriff’s “payola” scheme, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, was a cover-up to hide the misconduct.
The settlement requires the county to pay $47.6 million to cover the legal costs of the settlement, paid out of a $10.1 million federal fund set up to compensate victims of alleged misconduct by law enforcement officials.
California taxpayers will also have to pony up $3.65 million to cover the county’s share of attorney fees and other costs incurred as a result of the litigation.
On Thursday, the Board of Supervisors approved funding the attorney’s fees and costs with a 3-0 vote, with Supervisors Mike Feuer and Mike Antonovich dissenting. The San Francisco-based National Organization for Women is also seeking legal costs.
“I’m proud of the support from my colleagues, but I’m equally disappointed with the failure of the supervisors of the county to adopt a budget of true accountability and transparency,” said Supervisor Mike Antonovich. “I will continue to fight and fight until we secure the funding needed to fully repay the taxpayers.”
The county’s original budget did not include legal costs, which the board adopted as an afterthought in June