A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy can pursue punitive damages in his lawsuit in which he claims he was wrongfully transferred from patrol duty to an inmate custody assignment in retaliation for complaining that a supervisor had texted him a photo of the boss sitting naked on a toilet seat.
Deputy William Winters further maintains in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that after an internal investigation into Sgt. Bernie Lopez’s alleged conduct, the sergeant in turn filed a complaint against Winters, accusing the plaintiff of sharing the photo.
On Friday, Judge Kevin Brazile denied a request by the county and Lopez to strike Winters’ request for punitive damages.
“Plaintiff adequately pleads malice by indicating that Lopez sexually harassed him by sending a sexual photo and then creating a false and retaliatory complaint against plaintiff in reaction to being reported for harassment,” Brazile wrote.
The defense attorneys had said that Winters agreed during an attorney conference to drop his claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress, but not the exemplary damages bid. The defense lawyers further said that Winters’ only current way of obtaining punitive damages is through his sexual harassment claim. But the same lawyers further contended that being sent a photo of Lopez sitting on a toilet seat as Winters alleged did not amount to “wrongful motive, intent or purpose” on Lopez’s part.
“All he has done is plead one sentence that Sgt. Lopez sent him an unwanted photo,” according to the defense attorneys’ court papers.
Winters’ suit names the county and Lopez as defendants. Winters says he was hired in August 2024 and assigned to Metrolink train security. After his complaint that Lopez allegedly sent him the offensive photo, Lopez then filed his own claim against the plaintiff that he had allegedly shared the photo of Lopez with others, the suit states.
Winters was subsequently suspended and transferred from patrol to an inmate watch assignment where he lost the chance for a patrol bonus, the suit states.
“Plaintiff’s family life has also been negatively impacted due to plaintiff’s work schedule and hours after being involuntarily transferred,” according to the suit filed in May 2025, which further alleges that Winters was transferred in retaliation for reporting Lopez’s alleged sending of the photo.
Trial of Winters’ case is scheduled for July 17, 2028.