SAN FRAN/PALO ALTO, May 6, 2026 – Baker Botts L.L.P. recently secured an astounding victory in a Section 1983 civil rights case on behalf of Michael McCurty, a long-tenured inmate in the California prison system who alleged that he was sexually harassed by a female prison guard.  The lawsuit also asserted that another female guard stood by while the first guard conducted an inappropriate search, and that the warden tolerated a culture of abuse.

On the eve of trial, the State of California agreed to pay 100 percent of our client’s settlement demand-$38,000-in exchange for releases. The final settlement amount represented a 15-fold increase over the State’s prior offer and is among the largest settlements the State has paid for such a claim. Mr. McCurty was represented pro bono by a team of Baker Botts lawyers. 

The case alleged that Mr. McCurty, while an inmate at Soledad State Prison, a prison in Southern California, was the subject of a “clothed search” by prison guards.  While prison guards may search inmates, a number of restrictions govern how such searches must be conducted to avoid violating the inmate’s civil rights.  The prison guard in Mr. McCurty’s case violated several of those restrictions.

Mr. McCurty notified prison authorities of the incident, which prompted an “investigation.”  That investigation—which we contended was a sham—manufactured discrepancies among the witnesses’ statements as a basis for concluding that they were lying.  The State then withheld the investigation report, claiming it was protected.  Ultimately, the court ordered the State to produce it.

The State also refused to turn over contact information for the witnesses, several of whom had been released from prison. After the case was reassigned to United States District Judge Susan Illston in the Northern District of California, the court ordered the State to produce the witness information.  That ruling transformed the case: five witnesses came forward who had observed the harassment firsthand, and several who would testify that they had experienced similar civil rights violations at the hands of the same team of guards.  The Baker Botts team also secured a ruling excluding significant portions of the State’s expert testimony, which the court agreed was an improper attempt to attack the credibility of the inmate witnesses.  

As trial approached, the primary defendant claimed that her medical condition prevented her from appearing at trial.  The court denied the State’s request to file her medical information in camera—ordering the State to turn over the information to the Baker Botts team in the middle of the hearing, and then denied the State’s efforts to delay the trial.

Facing an imminent jury trial, the State sought a settlement and ultimately agreed to pay 100 percent of Mr. McCurty’s demand.  

The Baker Botts lawyers who led this case were Wendy Wang (Partner, Palo Alto), Matt Jacobs (Partner, San Francisco) Alison Sigurdsson (Senior Associate, San Francisco), Rica Garcia (Senior Associate, Palo Alto), Brianna Potter (Senior Associate, Palo Alto), Karan Singh Dhadialla (Senior Associate, San Francisco), and David Lien (Senior Associate, Palo Alto), Carmen Alvarado-Hernandez (Associate, Palo Alto).

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