San Diego County settles $700,000 legal claim with family of teen left unidentified in morgue for months – San Diego Union-Tribune

San Diego County has agreed to pay $700,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a family who spent five months searching for their missing 19-year-old son before learning his body was at the San Diego medical examiner's office. county all this time.

The lawsuit filed last year by Renee and William Lim and their surviving son accused the medical examiner's office of failing “in its most basic duty” to identify Ryan Lim's body and notify his family of his death. The claim sought $5 million from the county, alleging the failure “inflicted five months of endless, unimaginable and unnecessary anxiety, fear and desperate desire on Ryan's mother.”

A lawsuit is the precursor to a civil action. A county spokesperson said Friday that the settlement was reached before the family took legal action. CBS 8 first reported the settlement Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the medical examiner's office declined to comment on the settlement. The family's attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Ryan Lim grew up in Northern California. His mother told the Union-Tribune in October that he was a talented surfer, skateboarder and artist who also “struggled with the disease of addiction.” In November 2022, he was enrolled in an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center in Pacific Beach when he relapsed. He left the facility and moved in with a friend.

The complaint alleges his family last heard from him on the morning of Nov. 7, when he texted his mother. An investigative report from the medical examiner's office says he was found dead that evening on the sidewalk on 10th Avenue near Broadway in downtown San Diego. He had no identification on him.

The medical examiner's office later concluded that her death was caused by a mixture of fentanyl, methamphetamine and two prescription drugs.

For months, Renée Lim did not know the fate of her son. The complaint alleges that after weeks of attempts to find him from Northern California, she filed a missing person's report with San Diego police on November 23. A few weeks later, she called the medical examiner's office.

She provided a description of her son, then waited while the person on the other end of the line checked a database, according to the complaint. Although Ryan had several unique identifying factors, such as dreadlocks and four tattoos that he had designed, Renée learned that her son was not there. Lim said the call gave her hope that her son was still alive somewhere. According to the allegation, the woman she spoke with at the medical examiner's office “assured Ms. Lim that if Ryan had come to their office, he would have been identified by the fingerprint he provided for his license.” .

Renée Lim resumed her research in vain. In April 2023, a friend of Ryan's called. The medical examiner's office had posted Ryan's description on the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, a centralized Justice Department repository for missing, unidentified and unclaimed persons cases. The friend immediately recognized his description, including his unique tattoos.

The family's complaint alleged that the medical examiner's office “made no effort to identify Ryan or contact his family…despite its clear legal obligation to do so.”