The parents of a man who committed suicide by choking on an orange peel at the county jail took a $3 million settlement earlier this month from Orange County Supervisors.
It marks one of the many cases the county has paid to settle over the past year – including scores of settlements from the Airport Fire – totalling over $128 million in settlements altogether since last October, according to public records.
“The Airport Fire was a regrettable self-inflicted cost. Ultimately, those responsible were held accountable, and policies were subsequently introduced to correct the issues that contributed to the incident. Nevertheless, the County has a responsibility to fairly compensate individuals who were harmed by the fire,” Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento said in a Thursday text message.
No other supervisor responded to questions on the issue.
A Voice of OC review last October found the county’s paid out over a quarter of a billion dollars on lawsuit settlements over four years on top of that, meaning the county’s paid out over $386 million in lawsuit settlements since November 2021.
Where is the County’s Settlement Money Going?
The biggest settlement costs for this year and last year came from the Airport Fire, a 23,000-acre wildfire in 2024 that was started after a county public works crew accidentally sparked a fire while moving boulders.
Altogether the county has spent over $160 million on settlements for those impacted by the blaze, with over $77 million spent this year alone.
After the Airport Fire, the OC Sheriff’s Department has been the most expensive department, with nearly $19 million in settlements across a series of cases, including over $4.7 million in worker’s comp payouts and over $700,000 from sheriffs employees crashing into other cars.
County supervisors also spent over $8.5 million settling cases and paying attorneys fees involving District Attorney Todd Spitzer over the past year.
Supervisors signed off on $2.75 million to settle a lawsuit brought by DA investigator Jennifer Kearns, who claimed that Spitzer intentionally tanked the prosecution of a Newport Beach doctor charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting women.
They also agreed to pay out over $1.9 million to the attorneys of Tracy Miller, a former senior prosecutor who said Spitzer harassed her after she helped other women report sexual harassment by one of his appointees.
A jury gave Miller $3 million after she won her case in civil court.
Supervisors also settled three other cases brought by women who alleged similar conduct from Spitzer in their initial filings, all of whom settled for around $2.8 million collectively over the past year according to county records.
Orange County’s Budget Struggles
The payouts come as county leaders are increasingly struggling to balance their annual budget, which has carried a structural deficit since at least 2023.
In addition to the nearly $19 million spent on lawsuits, the sheriff’s department also reported overshooting their budget by roughly $29 million last year in a new report, which county officials claim is part of a budgeting program that intentionally underfunds the department each year.
Despite those settlements and other payouts, county supervisors have not moved to defund or reallocate funds from departments such as the sheriffs or the DA’s office.
Sarmiento noted other settlements raised concerns.
“It’s especially frustrating when the Board is asked to approve millions of dollars of public funds for settlement payouts resulting from policies or misconduct over which the Board has limited or no control, including those involving independently elected departments,” Sarmiento said.
“I would much rather see taxpayer dollars invested in drastically needed services than spent on preventable mistakes.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.
