Christina Sprenger
Christina Sprenger joined the firm in 2002 and became a shareholder in 2012. Ms. Sprenger began her practice in several areas of civil defense, including medical malpractice and adventure sports litigation. At LBAC, Ms. Sprenger primarily handles government entity defense and civil rights litigation in both state and federal trial and appellate courts.
Ms. Sprenger received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with honors, from California State University, Fullerton. She then received her Juris Doctorate in 1999 from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. While at Loyola Law School, Ms. Sprenger was a member of the Native American moot court team, and served as an articles editor for the International and Comparative Law Review. In addition, Ms. Sprenger worked with the Edelman Children’s Court as a Court Appointed Special Advocate.
Ms. Sprenger has handled a wide range of cases including wrongful termination, employment discrimination, general liability, medical malpractice, due process, police use of force, jail conditions, false arrest, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 municipal liability.
Ms. Sprenger’s practice includes litigation stemming from the impact of pertinent legislation such as the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), the Sexually Violent Predator Act (SVPA), the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Ms. Sprenger has successfully defended numerous cases on dispositive motions and obtained positive results for public entity clients including Orange County, Los Angeles County, and the cities of Downey, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Park, Fontana, and Compton. Ms. Sprenger has also taught at Sheriff’s Department Training Academies and has conducted in-service training on a variety of subjects relevant to police officers and public entities.
Ms. Sprenger is well-versed in both federal and state appellate procedures. Ms. Sprenger’s list of noteworthy cases includes the 2014 Order obtained in Pierce v. County of Orange, which began as litigation of a 27-year jail injunction and ended by terminating the Stewart v. Gates injunction as well as an additional injunction governing the accommodation of disabled inmates housed in the Orange County jail system; Mehr v. County of Orange (9th Cir. 2012), which was a RICO case against the Orange County Sheriff’s Department involving allegations that Sheriff’s Department officials permitted high-ranking gang member inmates to run the jails; Villicana v. Orange County Sheriff’s Department (9th Cir. 2012), which was an excessive force case resulting in dismissal of the lawsuit based on the inmate plaintiff’s failure to exhaust administrative remedies prior to filing his lawsuit; Brown v. County of Orange (9th Cir. 2011), which involved the Ninth Circuit’s dismissal of claims against Sheriff’s Deputies who used force to enter Plaintiff’s home after a neighbor reported hearing gunshots; and Newman v. County of Orange, 457 F.3d 991 (9th Cir. 2006), which is a published Opinion by the Ninth Circuit clarifying the general rule precluding civil plaintiffs from offering evidence of an underlying criminal prosecution, and from recovering damages for the attorney’s fees incurred in defense of the criminal proceeding.