On Dec. 24, 2017, plaintiffs’ decedent Ashley Flores, 11, a student who suffered from asthma, was at her home in Lynwood when she began having difficulty breathing. Ashley’s sister dialed 911 and was put on hold by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy. Ashley’s sister and other family members then called four more times, and the same deputy allegedly handled each call and put them on hold. Eventually, the calls were allegedly routed to an empty fire station, where no one picked up. As a result, Ashley’s family was not connected to a fire department dispatcher until 15 minutes later. Ashley was eventually taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Ashley’s parents, Dulce Acuna Rodriguez and Alfonso Flores (acting individually and as Ashley’s successors in interest), and Ashley’s four minor siblings (through their guardian ad litem, Rodriguez), sued Sheriff Jim McDonnell, Century Station Captain Kerry Carter and the county of Los Angeles. Ashley’s family alleged that the defendants were negligent in their training of the deputy who handled their 911 calls, causing Ashley’s wrongful death. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that the county of Los Angeles’ Century Station, which handled the 911 calls, provided poor training to its deputies and failed to have annual inspections of its desk operations during the three years prior to the incident. Counsel asserted that as a result, the deputy handling the calls failed to properly transfer the emergency calls and that the delay caused by the mishandling of the calls led to Ashley’s asthma being aggravated, causing her death., Ashley was transported to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The coroner found that Ashley’s primary cause of death was “acute asthma exacerbation.” Ashley’s mother, Dulce Acuna Rodriguez; father, Alfonso Flores; and four minor siblings sought recovery of wrongful death damages for the loss of Ashley.