Gonzalez

BACKGROUND

21 Plaintiffs filed this action in November 2019 alleging they are subject to unlawful, inhumane, 22 and unconstitutional treatment at the Santa Rita Jail. Over the following three and a half years, 23 Plaintiffs filed five amended complaints and Defendants moved to dismiss each version of the 24 complaint. The County Defendants’ operative answer to the Fifth Amended Complaint was filed 25 November 21, 2022. (Dkt. No. 220.) 26 27 Two months later, on February 14, 2023, Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP, filed a notice of association as counsel for the County Defendants. (Dkt. No. 255.) The parties then completed class certification briefing, and on May 9, 2023, the Court denied Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification as to Plaintiffs’ inadequate medical care and inadequate food subclasses, and conditionally certified Plaintiffs’ inadequate sanitation subclass. (Dkt. No. 264.) A month later, Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP filed a notice of substitution, and Mr. Belaga, who had represented the County Defendants since the case was filed, withdrew. (Dkt. Nos. 269-276.) Three weeks later, the County Defendants filed the now…