Los Angeles County Suits

A county panel recommended spending $4 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the survivors of millionaire Donald Scott, who was shot to death in a 1992 raid at his Ventura County ranch by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and federal agents. The Ventura County district attorney and Scott's widow allege the drug raid--which turned up no illegal narcotics--was intended to allow federal and county authorities to seize Scott's 200-acre ranch.

Tim Shumaker has a sinking feeling that he's reached the end of the line with the new Los Angeles subway. That's because there seems to be no end to the nearly six years of misery that Hollywood's only blind talent agent has suffered since tunneling for the Red Line destroyed his business and left him homeless. Shumaker's world collapsed in 1994 when subway construction beneath Hollywood Boulevard caused the building where he lived and worked to abruptly drop 9 inches. Police gave Shumaker and his business partner-wife, Maggie, five minutes to grab what they could.

A Los Angeles County panel has recommended paying $540,000 in public money to settle lawsuits by two emergency-room physicians at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center who allege that they were discriminated against because they are white.

A construction worker filed a federal lawsuit against the sheriff's and police departments Monday, contending he was falsely arrested because of misinformation posted on the LAPD's Internet Web site and in the sheriff's automated warrant system. Mark Gonzales, 35, was arrested and held for 11 hours on Jan. 11 until authorities realized he was not wanted for assault with a deadly weapon, according to his lawyer, Stephen Yagman.

The Board of Supervisors went behind closed doors Tuesday to settle three medical malpractice lawsuits, costing taxpayers more than $2.5 million. All three cases involve injuries suffered by very young children. County staff had predicted that if the cases went to trial, juries could return verdicts totaling $10 million.

Los Angeles County and the United States government have tentatively agreed to pay $5 million to the survivors of Donald P. Scott, reclusive heir to a European chemical fortune, who was shot to death when he was surprised by police during a controversial 1992 drug raid that turned up no drugs on his isolated ranch.

Attorneys for four Legal Aid agencies intend to file a complaint today against Los Angeles County's welfare-to-work program, charging that people who don't speak English are denied access to a full range of services, including job training.

A federal judge has given preliminary approval to a massive $2-million settlement of a long-running class action civil rights lawsuit over the management of Los Angeles County's probation department. The 5-year-old lawsuit alleged that the department shortchanged the inner city in its allocation of resources and passed over blacks for promotions.

Attorneys for four legal aid agencies intend to file a complaint today against Los Angeles County's welfare-to-work program that claims people who don't speak English are denied access to a full range of services, including job training.