CRAIG v. PETROPULOS (2021)

MEMORANDUM ***

Nicholas Petropulos and the County of Orange (“Defendants”) appeal from a jury verdict awarding $1.8 million in “loss of life” damages to Brandon Witt, who died in the custody of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.

On appeal, the Defendants argue that the district court improperly awarded compensatory damages for “the loss of life experienced by” Witt. Specifically, the Defendants contend that death is not compensable because a person cannot “experience” his loss of life; such damages are inherently speculative; and loss of life awards are not authorized by Chaudhry v. City of Los Angeles, 751 F.3d 1096 (9th Cir. 2014). We recently rejected these arguments in Valenzuela v. City of Anaheim, 6 F.4th 1098, 1102–05 (9th Cir. 2021), when we upheld the jury's loss of life award and determined that California state law prohibiting such damages was “inconsistent with [42 U.S.C.] § 1983.” Valenzuela is indistinguishable from this case. As a result, we affirm the jury's $1.8 million damages award for Witt's loss of life.

AFFIRMED.

I agree that the issue in this case is indistinguishable from our previous discussion of loss of life damages in Valenzuela v. City of Anaheim, 6 F.4th 1098 (9th Cir. 2021). Therefore, I respectfully dissent for the same reasons laid out in my dissent in Valenzuela.