Conal Doyle was lead counsel in two related civil rights cases that have been reported in the news media around the world, and have been credited with changing the way that the government provides health care to immigration detainees. The combined settlement for both cases was $3.2 million. The case summaries follow:
In 2011, Conal Doyle obtained a $1,950,000 settlement in Castaneda v. U.S., 538 F.Supp.2d 1279 (C.D. Cal 2008), affirmed, Castaneda v. U.S., 546 F.3d 682 (9th Cir. 2008), reversed, Castaneda v. Hui,130 S.Ct. 1845 (2010), which is an action by an immigration detainee who suffered a penile amputation and subsequently died due to the United States’ failure to timely diagnose and treat penile cancer.
This settlement was almost eight times the $250,000 medical malpractice cap that the United States argued applied to the case. The Firm spent more than $180,000 in case costs prosecuting the Castaneda cases.
The case has received extensive international media coverage, with numerous stories published by the San Francisco Chronicle, L.A. Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Canadian News Press, British Broadcasting Company (BBC), Daily Journal, Univision, Telemundo, numerous other international media outlets, and 60 Minutes.
In a related companion case, Conal Doyle obtained a $1,735,557 jury verdict on November 10, 2010 on behalf of the family of Francisco Castaneda, a state prisoner who died because the State of California refused to provide him a biopsy to rule out penile cancer during his four month detention. The suit was brought by Mr. Castaneda’s 17 year old daughter, Vanessa Castaneda. Prior to trial, the State offered $10,000 to settle the claim, and disputed liability, causation, and damages. During trial, Mr. Doyle asked the jury to return a verdict of $1,500,000 in non-economic damages and $235,557 for past medical bills.
After deliberating for less than four hours, the jury returned a verdict for the exact amount requested, which was 170 times the pre-trial defense offer.
The Daily Journal, California’s daily legal newspaper, recognized Castaneda v. State of California as one of California’s Top 10 most impactful verdicts of 2010. The Castaneda verdict was ranked third in impact, behind only the verdicts striking down the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and Proposition 8, the California ban on gay marriage. The Castaneda, verdict was recognized for its impact on improving the medical care system for immigration detainees.
This verdict was ultimately reversed on appeal. In 2014, however, the State agreed to pay $1.25 million on behalf of two State employees who denied Mr. Castaneda medical care. The combined recovery of $3.2 million is one of the largest recoveries ever involving the death of an undocumented alien and felon who was denied medical care by the government.