Chiaramonte

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Charles Chiaramonte, through his guardian ad litem, appeals the judgment entered against him and in favor of defendants County of Los Angeles, Dr. Julian Wallace, Dr. A. Haniffa Cassim, and nurses Rosendo Florentin and Patricia Kim, after the trial court granted the defendants’ motions for summary judgment. We reverse the judgment in favor of the County, affirm the judgment in favor of Wallace, Cassim, Florentin, and Kim, and remand with directions.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Incident On January 6, 2009 Chiaramonte was detained at the North County Correctional Facility, which the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department supervises. At approximately 5:00 p.m. another inmate observed Chiaramonte “on the floor, face up,” and not moving. A group of inmates picked up Chiaramonte and placed him back in his bunk, but Chiaramonte “began shaking violently [and] he fell out of the bunk [and] struck the side of his head against the concrete floor.” Chiaramonte continued shaking, and “blood was oozing out of his mouth . . . .” Nursing staff and sheriff’s deputies responded. Although how long it took the jail staff to respond was disputed, at some…