On Oct. 16, 2009, plaintiff Tyler Willis, 23, a pre-trial detainee at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles, was attempting to calm down an older inmate who was distressed and crying. After telling the inmate that he did not have to speak to Deputy Anthony Vasquez, Willis was pulled out of his cell by Vasquez and brought into the main hallway. There, Vasquez and Deputies Pedro Guerrero and Mark Farino stripped searched Wills, and then told him to squat and cough five or six times while he was naked. After Willis cooperated, the deputies told him to go back into the cell module. However, Willis claimed that inside the module, he was painfully poked in the neck by Vasquez’s fingers, causing him to flinch in pain. He also claimed that when he moved Vasquez, Guerrero, Farino and Deputy Jorge Sanchez started to beat him, punch him, shock him with a Taser, and strike him many times on his legs and body with a heavy metal flashlight. Willis claimed that as a result, he sustained multiple fractures to his right fibula, necessitating a full leg cast. Willis sued Deputies Vasquez, Guerrero, Farino and Sanchez; their supervisors at Men’s County Jail, Lieutenant Herron, Lieutenant Xavier Aguilar, Captain Daniel Cruz and Sergeant Charles McDaniel; the supervisor of those subordinate supervisors, Sheriff Lee Baca; and their employers, the county of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Herron was ultimately let out of the case, and the trial continued against all other defendants. Willis claimed that the actions of Vasquez, Guerrero and Farino constituted excessive use of force in violation of his Constitutional rights and that the deputies performed an unconstitutional strip search. He also claimed that Baca, Cruz, Aguilar and McDaniel were negligent for their individual and personal unconstitutional misconduct in ratifying and condoning their deputies’ misconduct. He further claimed that Bacca was liable, in his personal capacity, for his own wrongful conduct in not supervising and taking corrective action against his subordinate supervisors. In addition, Willis claimed that the county of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department were liable for having a custom or practice of condoning and ratifying unconstitutional conduct, and that all of the defendants’ conduct constituted negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and battery. Defense counsel denied Willis’ allegations and contended that the defendants acted reasonably and lawfully at all relevant times. Counsel also contended that the circumstances in this case were derivative of Willis’ conduct, namely, that Willis provoked the deputies to use force against him when he attacked Vasquez and punched him in the face numerous times., Willis was taken to a hospital after the incident, as the jail doctor suspected that Willis had head that required emergency medical care. Willis was subsequently diagnosed with fractures to his right ankle and fibula. As a result, he wore a full right leg cast. Willis claimed that he later suffered residual problems, such as periodic pain to his ankle, which is expected to be long-lasting. He also claimed that although his broken ankle healed, it will always cause him pain. Defense counsel disputed the nature and extent of Willis’ alleged residual .