Controller Says Los Angeles Paid $1.03 Billion in Legal Payouts From 2020 to 2025, Largely for Preventable Incidents
Kenneth Mejia's audit found no single entity overseeing the city's risk management — and departments with no incentive to prevent the broken-sidewalk injuries, dangerous conditions, vehicle accidents and police excessive-force cases behind the payouts.
Los Angeles Controller Kenneth Mejia has released the findings of his office's audit into how the city manages liability risk, pointing to $1.03 billion in legal payouts the city made from 2020 until 2025, according to the audit reporting read in full by this desk on Monday. Mejia said the payouts were largely related to preventable incidents, including injuries from broken sidewalks, dangerous conditions and vehicle accidents, and excessive use of force by police officers.
In a statement carried in that reporting, Mejia said his office's audit found an alarming lack of accountability throughout the city. There is no one entity tasked with overseeing risk management, he said, and departments have no incentive to prevent injury, loss or other harms to the public or to minimize the financial impact of their actions. He urged City Hall to implement the audit's recommendations to reduce harm and liabilities.
The audit report includes a response from the City Administrative Officer, one of the agencies the Controller's office audited. The CAO concurred with much of Mejia's conclusions but disputed his assertion that the CAO was already supposed to have had a bigger role in managing risk, arguing that role was primarily given to city departments. The CAO also agreed that the city's risk management needed to be centralized and said it looked forward to playing that role using staff the council and mayor included in this year's budget.
The CAO's office had also released a joint report with the City Attorney's Office on March 27 highlighting similar concerns and recommendations, according to the reporting. Mejia's office said the City Attorney's Office did not cooperate with the audit, so it could not study how that office analyses risk or what it recommends to reduce liability. Alongside the audit, the Controller's office put out a white paper on recommendations for improving the city's risk management process.
