PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s Cass County and an Iowa woman have settled a lawsuit that said the county didn’t respond properly to the abuse she endured in the county jail.
Amy Miller of the American Civil Liberties Union in Nebraska said Friday the cash settlement amount for Claudia Leiva-Deras, of Storm Lake, Iowa, was confidential.
In a statement, the county denied it was “deliberately indifferent” to Leiva-Deras’ medical needs or her other allegations. The county said the costs of defending itself led it to resolve the case without any admission of liability.
The lawsuit filed Jan. 3 for the 27-year-old Leiva-Deras says she was attacked repeatedly by another inmate over several months in 2009. Leiva-Deras was being detained because of questions about her immigration status, which were later resolved.