A federal judge has upheld a multimillion-dollar jury verdict, effectively awarding a U.S. Army veteran $6.6 million in damages stemming from a 2019 encounter with Los Angeles Police.
The veteran, Slade Douglas, 49, was successful in his case after U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong rejected a bid by the city and two Los Angeles Police Department officers to throw out the verdict, according to Courthouse News Service.
The jury had found that officers unlawfully detained Douglas in August 2019, after a call he made to a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) crisis line set off a chain of events that ended with him on an involuntary psychiatric hold.
Police were sent to his home for a welfare check. When he asked the officers to leave, they instead placed him in handcuffs and took him to a hospital.
The judge found sufficient evidence to support the veteran’s negligence claim and rejected the city’s argument that the jury’s verdict was inconsistent and that the evidence did not support the damages.
At one point, the judge did side with the city, finding that jurors had been given an erroneous instruction on a negligent supervision claim. However, that conclusion did not change the outcome.
“Defendants have not demonstrated that the jury’s $6 million damages award is at odds with a permissible interpretation of the facts in evidence,” the judge wrote.
A jury had awarded roughly $6.8 million when it decided the case in January. This week’s ruling left the bulk of that award standing.
What Happened in 2019
Slade was on the phone with a VA crisis line operator on Aug. 27, 2019, when the call went poorly, according to his lawsuit.
After he hung up, the operator called the LAPD to request a welfare check at his home. Officers Jeffrey Yabana and Jeremy Wheeler responded.
Douglas told them he was not a danger to himself or others and asked them to leave, per the lawsuit, but the officers stayed.
When Douglas called 911 to report their conduct, the officers detained him and placed him in an involuntary psychiatric hold under California’s Welfare and Institutions Code, otherwise known as a 5150 hold. They took him to a hospital in handcuffs.
Verdict and Ruling
Douglas sued the city and the officers, alleging they unlawfully detained him and retaliated against him for asserting his rights.
The suit alleged that they subjected him to involuntary treatment without cause. His attorneys characterized the episode as a “government-initiated swatting” set off by the crisis line’s call.
At trial, the jury found that the officers lacked probable cause to detain him.
The jury returned its verdict in January after a civil trial, awarding Douglas millions in damages. His original lawsuit had sought $30 million.
“This verdict affirms that constitutional rights are not optional,” Peter L. Carr IV, an attorney for Douglas, said after the January verdict.
The city and the officers then asked the court to overturn the outcome, arguing the verdict could not stand. The judge’s ruling this week rejected that request on nearly every point.
Douglas has said he pursued the case to prevent a repeat.
“There was no basis for this forced treatment,” he said in an interview, adding that he wanted to make sure “this doesn’t happen to another person.”
Douglas has lived in Los Angeles since 2012, according to accounts of the case. His experience has also been the subject of an independent documentary.
The city has not publicly stated whether it intends to appeal the ruling.
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