Build to edge of the document Margins are just a safe area
with John Fattahi represented Borges’ family, said the county “quickly realized” case law and evidence were contrary to its position in the case and there was a “strong likelihood” that a continued effort to fight the verdict would only drive up attorneys’ fees. Fattahi said a recent ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals bolstered the legal standard used in Borges’ case — essentially saying that correctional officers have a duty to intervene in situations where pre-trial detainees are in a state that a reasonable person would see as requiring medical care. Seeing the Ninth Circuit case, Fattahi said the county realized settlement was its best option. And that represented an abrupt change of course, the attorneys said, as the county had been unwilling to seriously discuss settlement prior to trial. “They made no offer,” Fattahi said, adding that he and Galipo made several offers over the course of two or three settlement conferences but all were rejected. “For whatever reason,” Galipo said, “I think they were convinced they were going to win.”
Blanck told the Times-Standard he is pleased the county was able to settle the case but “not pleased with the dollar amount,” adding that he thinks jail staff was put in a difficult situation because they didn’t know how much meth Borges had ingested and he “displayed no definitive symptoms for meth.” Evidence presented at trial in the case shows that while county booking policy dictated that jail staff had to answer 35 questions — things like whether Borges showed physical signs of trauma, appeared intoxicated, seemed oriented to self, date, time and place and suffered from mental illness — do a full pat-down search and remove his shoes and socks before booking him, correctional officers rushed through the process in about two minutes and 40 seconds. In video of the booking process, it doesn’t appear as though Borges is speaking or answering questions, though the video does show him sweating profusely and listing from side to side. Once placed in the sobering cell, the video shows Borges stripping off
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northcoastjournal.com • Thursday, June 21, 2018 • NORTH COAST JOURNAL
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