San Diego County Paid About $30 Million to Settle Two Jail-Death Lawsuits in Two Years

San Diego County has paid roughly $30 million over two years to settle two wrongful-death lawsuits stemming from deaths in its jails, money drawn directly from a self-insured county treasury.

In July 2024, the county agreed to pay $15 million to the family of Elisa Serna, a 24-year-old pregnant woman who died in November 2019 at the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility in Santee. The county covered $14 million and its jail medical contractor, Coast Correctional Medical Group, paid $1 million, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported at the time.

In October 2025, the county settled the wrongful-death case of Hayden Schuck for $16 million. Schuck was 22 when he died March 16, 2022, at the Central Jail, less than a week after an arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence. The case is docketed in U.S. District Court as Estate of William Hayden Schuck v. County of San Diego, and NBC 7 reported the $16 million payout as the largest wrongful-death settlement in county history.

The two settlements follow a documented pattern. A California State Auditor review released in February 2022 found that 185 people died in San Diego County jails from 2006 through 2020, more than in comparable counties including Orange (111) and Riverside (104), and that the county's death rate remained among the state's highest even after accounting for jail population and bookings.

The auditor concluded the Sheriff's Department had failed to adequately prevent and respond to deaths in its custody, citing deficiencies in medical and mental health care and in required visual safety checks. It also found that the Citizens' Law Enforcement Review Board, the voter-created oversight body, failed to investigate nearly a third of in-custody deaths.

The Sheriff's Department has responded by pointing to added medical staff, updated intake screening and new review roles intended to flag in-custody deaths sooner.