County Pays to Settle Ex-Inmate’s Lawsuit
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Orange County officials settled a lawsuit with a former jail inmate who alleged he had been seriously beaten by sheriff’s deputies.
The amount paid to Ryan Epperson was not disclosed, but his attorney, John Cogorno, said the agreement was fair.
He said Epperson decided to settle the case even though a surveillance tape showed the confrontation.
“Jurors here favor police in almost every case,” Cogorno said.
Epperson filed his suit in March 2003, the same month the beating allegedly occurred at the Orange County Jail.
A sheriff’s spokesman, Jon Fleischman, said the county settled because the cost of litigation would have been far higher than the settlement amount.
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