On July 16, 2026, Judge Anthony Battaglia granted the parties’ joint motion for final approval of the comprehensive settlement agreement to resolve Plaintiffs’ Second Claim for Relief in Dunsmore et al. v. San Diego County Sheriff’s Department et al., No. 3:20-cv-00406-AJB-DDL, a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California against the County of San Diego, San Diego County Sheriff’s Office, and San Diego County Probation Department over unconstitutional and unlawful conditions at the San Diego County Jail facilities.
The Second Claim for Relief addresses Defendants’ failure to provide constitutionally adequate mental health care to the Dunsmore class under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and Article I, Sections 7 and 17 of the California Constitution. The Court approved the settlement via minute order on July 16 and issued a detailed order laying out its reasoning on July 23, 2026. The Court’s July 23 order is here.
After months of extensive negotiation, the Sheriff’s Office agreed to significant changes to policies, procedures, and practices that will improve mental health care in the jails. The settlement requires the establishment of clinical levels of care, expansion of the County’s mental health beds and staffing, and mental health pre-clearance in the County’s solitary confinement units.