Judge refuses to toss breach-of-contract suit against NaphCare over inmate murder

In a ruling by Judge Thomas Whelan, the health-care contractor for San Diego County Jail, NaphCare, was ordered to confront breach-of-contract claims arising from the 2024 homicide of 24-year-old inmate Brandon Yates. Yates, who struggled with mental illness and drug addiction, was assaulted and suffocated by fellow inmate Alvin Ruis after a religious argument turned violent. The judge concluded that proper adherence to NaphCare's procedures might have stopped jail staff from housing the two together, given Ruis’s documented propensity for violence.

While NaphCare maintained its contract limited liability to deficient medical care, the decision clarified that the agreement also covered passive negligence. The county's additional lawsuit targeting several unnamed clinicians was partially dismissed for lacking a direct connection to the alleged negligence. The criminal case against Ruis remains unresolved, with the jury deadlocked at 11-1. This lawsuit joins numerous actions by families of inmates who have died in San Diego facilities.