Settlement in Mitrice Richardson Lawsuit Awaits Parents' Signatures

• Board of Supervisors Announces Its Approval on Public Agenda This Week

BY ANNE SOBLE

The unmarried parents of Mitrice Richardson are expected to sign the paperwork this week awarding each of them $450,000 to terminate their claims of negligence and wrongful death against Los Angeles County.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a settlement total of $900,000 in a closed-door meeting on Aug. 16, subject to all parties signing the agreement. Sources in the county indicated that the contract counsel representing its case had made offers as low as $100,000.

Sources further said that the matter would not have been put before the board if there was not an expectation of its acceptance by the parents who had filed separate lawsuits alleging negligence by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department that were then consolidated.

The matter was agendized on Tuesday's board meeting as item CS (4), which noted that the board unanimously (4-0) "approved the settlement in Latice Sutton v. County of Los Angeles; Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. BC 440685 and Michael Richardson v. County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. BC 442405—A wrongful death case alleging that Los Angeles Sheriff's Department conduct contributed to the death of plaintiffs' decedent."

Richardson disappeared on Sept. 17, 2009, after she was released from the custody of the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station shortly after midnight on foot, without her purse or cell phone.

She had been booked the previous evening for alleged inability to pay an $89 dinner tab at Geoffrey's restaurant, where patrons and staff said she was behaving bizarrely.

Family members kept up a media drumbeat that the 24-year-old honors college graduate did not receive medical attention for what might have been the onset of a bipolar condition.

Richardson's naked and partially mummified skeletal remains were found 11 months later in a remote area of Malibu Canyon about seven miles from the Lost Hills Station.

Richardson's remains, interred in Inglewood Park Cemetery, were exhumed last month by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office so they and another nine bones confirmed to be hers could be restudied.

Her parents, Latice Sutton and Michael Richardson, also have maintained that the LASD's initial handling of their daughter's remains prevented determination of the cause of her death, a claim that is also asserted by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.

The parents' consolidated litigation had been pared down considerably by Judge William Fahey and was set for trial next month.

Many supporters following the case had expressed a preference that the matter go to trial so that discovery and depositions could be made public. Unconfirmed rumors about retractions and inconsistent testimony have been rife during the discovery process.

With settlement often comes agreements that curtail the public statements and actions of the settling plaintiffs. In addition, there has been no official word on the effect settlement will have on any ongoing investigation.

Until everyone has signed on their respective dotted lines, LASD spokesperson Steve Whitmore said, "I do not have confirmation on any final settlement so I wouldn't have a comment at this time."

Neither parent's website has made reference to a legal settlement. However, Michael Richardson made an enigmatic comment on a social media page three weeks ago that he "is cashing in now." Sutton has not yet responded to settlement inquiries publicly.