Final settlement not reached in lawsuit against former El Camino police sergeant

The case of John Doe vs. El Camino Community College District, et al. remains unresolved as the next hearing is currently scheduled for March 10.

A settlement in the lawsuit filed against the El Camino College District, El Camino College’s Police Department and former El Camino police sergeant, Dalfiery Toruno, had still not been filed with the court as of Feb. 4, 2022, according to Maria Navarro, the courtroom assistant of Department 40 at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.

Toruno was found to be in “violation of District policy when he sent multiple nonconsensual pornographic, racist and homophobic text messages and videos” to an 18-year-old El Camino College police cadet, as according to a letter written by Jaynie Ishikawa, Director of Staff and Student Diversity.

The Union broke the original story regarding both the lawsuit and Toruno’s firing – including Ishikawa’s letter – on Dec. 15, 2021. In a written statement addressed to the El Camino College Community the next day on Dec. 16, El Camino College’s President and Superintendent Brenda Thames said “This legal matter was resolved in its entirety prior to the publishing of yesterday’s news story in the student newspaper.”

The court calendar lists hearings scheduled for Feb. 4 and Feb. 7, 2022 that were postponed. Navarro said that a party or parties involved in the case requested that the hearings be rescheduled, but could not determine who had made the request.

Navarro said the next scheduled hearing is March 10 at 8:30 a.m. in Department 40, unless an order to dismiss the case signed by the plaintiff is submitted to the court.

Judge David Sotelo gave the parties until March 10 to file or appear in court to explain why they need more time to reach a possible settlement. Civil court hearings are open to the public.

 

Editor’s Note: Story updated to give proper writer credits on March 10, 2022 at 1:58 a.m.