The city of Inglewood has been dropped as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by a San Francisco 49ers fan assaulted in a SoFi Stadium parking lot during the 2022 NFC championship game, leaving the victim in a medically induced coma.
In court papers filed Thursday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Jaskol, attorneys for plaintiff Daniel Luna asked that all claims against the city be dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning they can be refiled later. The court papers do not state if a settlement of the part of the case against the city was reached or if Luna is not proceeding against the southwest Los Angeles County municipality for other reasons.
Jaskol was scheduled to hold an Aug. 30 hearing on the city’s motion to dismiss the two causes of action pertaining to it, consisting of public employee negligence and loss of consortium by Luna’s wife, Irene Sulencka. The city maintained both allegations were “defective” and did not state grounds for relief.
On Aug. 15, Luna dropped Apex Security Group Inc. as a defendant.
The Los Angeles Rams and Luna’s alleged assailant, Bryan Alexis Cifuentes, were among the original defendants named when the case was brought last Sept. 8. Cifuentes has maintained that he acted in self defense in the confrontation with Luna.
Luna and Sulencka filed an amended complaint on May 18, adding the city of Inglewood and Los Angeles County as defendants. According to the revised suit, the city “had a duty to ensure that designated areas, such as sobering cells or other drunk tanks, were available for the placement of inebriated detainees.”
The updated suit also maintained that the city, like all the other defendants, was responsible for Sulencka’s loss of consortium with “her lawfully wedded spouse,” including losses of “comfort, society and companionship.”
But according to the city’s attorneys’ court papers, in both causes of action the plaintiffs’ lawyers “fail to identify any statutory basis for alleged direct liability against the city,” but instead make “boilerplate, conclusory allegations, or conclusions of law, without providing any supporting material facts against the city.”
The plaintiffs’ inability to provide details for a cause of action for public employee negligence renders the loss of consortium allegation “woefully deficient as well,” the city’s attorneys stated.
The lawsuit stems from a Jan. 30, 2022, altercation that occurred as the Rams and 49ers were playing for a trip to Super Bowl LVI — a game eventually won by the Rams.
Prosecutors said Luna approached a group of people outside the stadium and an altercation ensued, during which Cifuentes allegedly slugged Luna, who fell to the ground.
Luna, who was wearing a 49ers jersey, was found by a security guard in the parking lot and taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he was placed in a medically induced coma with injuries to his face and upper body.
Inglewood Mayor James Butts said days later that surveillance video of the altercation showed a group of fans tailgating in Parking Lot L, and Luna appeared to shove Cifuentes from behind.
“The suspect then retaliated by pushing Mr. Luna from behind, and then struck (him) once in the mouth area,” Butts said. “Luna then fell to the ground, where he was later found by security personnel who summoned paramedics.”
Cifuentes was eventually found due to the surveillance video, which captured a vehicle license plate image. After Cifuentes’ arrest, his acquaintances told reporters that Luna was the aggressor and appeared to be intoxicated.
Friends of Luna said he flew to Los Angeles and attended the game alone after other fans who planned to go canceled those plants. Luna owns the Oakland Peruvian fusion restaurant Mistura.