Miller Barondess has secured a decisive victory for the County of Los Angeles in federal court, where U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted Judgment as a Matter of Law in a First Amendment lawsuit brought by Captain Benjamin Torres of the LASD Parks Bureau. Torres filed the lawsuit in May 2025 alleging that the County unlawfully denied him a promotion to Commander because of protected speech related to a station tattoo. Earlier this year, the court denied summary judgment but dismissed Sheriff Robert Luna from the case, leaving the County as the sole defendant.
The Miller Barondess team includes Jason H. Tokoro, Steven G. Williamson, and paralegal Ricky Reis. (Torres v. County of Los Angeles, C.D. Cal. 2:25-cv-04155-RGK-MBK).
A jury trial began on March 3, 2026. Plaintiff rested his case on March 4, after which the County immediately moved for Judgment as a Matter of Law under Rule 50(a). On March 9, the court granted the motion, concluding that the evidence presented by the plaintiff was insufficient to support his claims and ending the case before it proceeded further.
The court found that the County demonstrated it would have denied the promotion regardless of Torres’s tattoo because he was not the most qualified candidate. Testimony during trial established that other candidates performed better in the promotion process and were more qualified for the available Commander position.
The court also noted that Torres’s subjective belief that he was the most qualified candidate was unsupported by the evidence. Instead, the record showed that promotional decisions were based on candidates’ qualifications and interview performance, not on any protected speech.
The evidence presented at trial also showed there is no policy—written or otherwise—within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department that prohibits individuals with station tattoos from being promoted. Multiple witnesses testified that no such policy exists, and Torres himself acknowledged that the Department does not maintain any rule disqualifying deputies with tattoos from promotion.
Based on the lack of evidence supporting Torres’s claims, the court concluded that the County would have made the same promotion decision regardless of the alleged protected speech and therefore found no First Amendment violation. The court also rejected Torres’s attempt to impose municipal liability, finding no evidence of any policy, practice, or custom preventing deputies with station tattoos from being promoted.
Per Jason H. Tokoro, lead trial counsel to the County, “We appreciate the court’s careful review of the evidence and its conclusion that the County’s promotion process was lawful and merit-based.”