From $64 million ten years ago to $254 million last year and $289 million this fiscal year, the city of Los Angeles now spends a staggering amount of money each year on police misconduct, trip and fall, and other claims.
The causes are multifaceted and include things like deteriorating sidewalks, jurors’ propensity to render greater verdicts, potential changes in the city attorney’s office’s legal approach, and an increase in the volume of cases filed against the city.
Settlements for dangerous conditions lawsuits that specifically targeted malfunctioning city infrastructure, like broken elevators, accounted for the largest portion of payouts over the previous five years (32%), followed by civil rights violations and unlawful uses of force (18%) and traffic collisions involving city vehicles (18%).
A nearly $1 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2025–2026 was filled with layoffs and other spending cuts, and city officials have pointed to the litigation payouts as a major contributing reason.
City Attorney. The city’s lawsuit defense office is led by Hydee Feldstein Soto, who was appointed in December 2022.
Feldstein Soto mentioned a backlog of cases from the COVID-19 epidemic, when courts were hardly operating, that were settled or went to trial in recent years in an interview with The Times and public appearances across the city.
According to her, the tab has also been impacted by structured settlements that her predecessor, Mike Feuer, negotiated and that are distributed yearly rather than all at once.
Feldstein Soto said that she thinks heavier verdicts are the result of juries being more hostile toward local governments.
Feuer stated in an interview that he did not think he boosted the usage of structured settlements, which the city was already implementing when he took office.
Feuer blamed a lack of investment in public infrastructure, such as sidewalks and roadways, during the 2008 financial crisis as the reason for the increase in legal liability claims during his term, which went from roughly $40 million in 2013 to over $91 million in 2022.
Feldstein Soto has occasionally accused plaintiffs in public appearances of attempting to get monetary damages for what she described as dangerous conduct or interpersonal conflicts.
She stated earlier this year in a speech to the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association that two kinds of lawsuits are vulnerable to abuse: those involving hazardous circumstances and those filed by city workers regarding working conditions. Citing a case filed by LAPD captain Stacey Vince, who claimed that higher-ups retaliated against her after she voiced her displeasure with her employer, Feldstein Soto stated that some personnel who sue the city just don’t like their bosses. The city later resolved the case for just under $6 million after a jury awarded Vince $10.1 million.
Additionally, Feldstein Soto called a man who filed a lawsuit against the city a fool. According to Feldstein Soto, the man suffered a traumatic brain injury after colliding with a nearby tree while riding his electric scooter without a helmet on an uneven pavement.
Feldstein Soto claims that these cases ultimately cost taxpayers money.
She said, “Please realize that every dollar you give is your money.”
Since the epidemic, the number of lawsuits against the city has increased annually, rising from 1,131 in 2021 to 1,560 in 2024.
At the same time, the city’s average payment per case has skyrocketed, rising from less than $50,000 in 2022 to $132,180 in 2024. The rise in awards of at least $1 million—17 in 2022 and 39 in 2024—is one contributing cause. (The city does not consider settlements or jury verdicts when the monetary amount is determined; rather, it counts them in the fiscal year in which they are paid out.)
The city settled 51 claims for at least $1 million between July 2024 and March 2025.
According to Feldstein Soto, these nuclear verdicts have a significant financial impact on the city and may result in higher compensation for cases of a similar nature in the future.
Between 2020 and 2024, the total yearly settlements in police misconduct cases increased from $15 million to $50 million. The number of cases of dangerous illnesses increased from approximately $41 million in 2020 to approximately $84 million in 2024.
In a series of cases involving a poorly executed LAPD bomb squad fireworks blast that left numerous individuals homeless and wounded over 20 others, the city earlier this year paid $21 million to plaintiffs.
The city also awarded $17.7 million to the family of a mentally ill man who was slain by an off-duty LAPD officer this year.
The city raised its liability payout budget for the upcoming fiscal year from roughly $87 million to $187 million, which is far less than what it has been paying out of a $14 billion budget in previous years.
The city’s long-standing underfunding of infrastructure is one factor contributing to the increasing payouts, according to City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who chairs the council’s public works committee. Hernandez, who supports a smaller LAPD, stated that the city spent roughly 10% of its total budget on streets and other public works last year, which is far less than what it spent on police.
She claimed that as a city, we don’t make investments in upkeep. Some of these things have made me feel as though I’ve been yelling into thin air.
This year, the city agreed to pay $3 million to a man who suffered a severe brain damage after tripping over a slightly uneven sidewalk.
The city secured a $21 million settlement with a man last April whose skull was shattered when a piece of a street lamp fell on him. After a trial in which a jury awarded the man $22 million, the parties ultimately agreed to a significantly lower sum.
According to Arash Zabetian, a lawyer for the guy struck by the streetlight, “I think the main reason is the city’s delays and lack of maintenance, which has led to an increase in such incidents.”
According to some plaintiffs’ lawyers, Feldstein Soto’s legal tactics are causing liability costs to rise. They claim that because she is bringing more cases to trial, the verdicts are higher than they would be if she had settled.
Attorney Matthew McNicholas, who frequently brings lawsuits against the city on behalf of police officers, explained that he recently went to trial in five cases and won each one, resulting in a compensation of over $40 million.
He stated that he would have been content to pay less than $10 million to resolve all five cases.
Two male cops were accused of painting a penis on a suspect’s abdomen in one of the complaints, which resulted in a $13 million verdict. The policemen claimed that superiors did not view their female coworkers with the same distrust.
A whistleblower claimed in another case that he was disciplined for drawing attention to issues inside the LAPD Bomb Detection K-9 Section. He was also given $13 million by a jury.
Saying we’re going to play hardball is not a strategy. “It’s just dumb,” McNicholas remarked. She goes on to blame my clients and fugitive juries for her issues, which irritates me.
Another plaintiff’s lawyer, Greg Smith, stated that he has also observed a propensity to take cases to trial at Feldstein Soto’s practice.
According to Smith, everything is a battle. In my thirty years of suing the city, this administration has done the worst job of attempting to reach a settlement.
According to Feldstein Soto, her office resolves every case it can.
Going to trial serves no one’s interests. She claimed that it was a waste of resources. However, if we don’t believe we are at fault or if the demand is excessive, we won’t settle the matter.
Feldstein Soto is seeking assistance from Sacramento in order to stop the influx of massive settlements. He has proposed a bill that would limit lawsuits against California towns to $1 million or three times the incident’s economic losses, whichever is higher. Feldstein Soto’s office claims that 38 states already have damage caps.
She has not yet been able to locate a state lawmaker to support the bill.
