
Jury Awards Him and His Daughter $3.8M, the Largest Verdict Yet from 2020 Protest Cases
LOS ANGELES, CA — A Los Angeles jury has awarded $3.8 million to filmmaker Cellin Gluck and his daughter Caroline Gluck, finding the County of Los Angeles negligent for injuries sustained when Mr. Gluck was shot in the face by a projectile while peacefully chaperoning his children during a George Floyd protest in 2020. His daughter was awarded damages for witnessing her father be shot. It is the largest jury award or settlement arising from the spring 2020 protest lawsuits.
The verdict was delivered Wednesday afternoon in Department 40 of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, presided over by Judge Michael Shultz.
Gluck, 66, was unarmed and calmly photographing the crowd near Beverly Blvd. and Stanley Ave. when he was hit by a rubber bullet fired by a Sheriff’s deputy. The impact fractured his face, embedded shrapnel in his nasal cavity (removed nine months later), and left him with permanent disfigurement, vision problems, and severe emotional trauma. The incident was captured on helicopter news footage.
After the trial concluded, several jurors spoke with attorneys for both sides and blasted the credibility of the County’s witnesses, particularly the Sheriff’s deputies who testified. Jurors said they felt the deputies were evasive and dishonest and added that the County’s own attorney offended them during the trial by using the phrase “the Blacks” when referring to protesters—language jurors described as “inappropriate,” “outdated,” and “insulting.”
“This was a case about accountability—and the jury made that clear,” said Carl E. Douglas of Douglas / Hicks Law, who represented the Gluck family along with attorneys Jamon Hicks, Noel Arreola, and Jeremy Galloway. “Mr. Gluck was doing what any responsible parent would do—protecting his kids. Instead, he was permanently injured by deputies who still refuse to take responsibility and then had to endure a trial where the County’s own lawyer disrespected the very spirit of justice the courtroom is meant to uphold.”
The Glucks filed their lawsuit in 2021, originally alleging excessive force and civil rights violations, but ultimately proceeded on a single cause of action: negligence. The jury found that the County’s use of so-called “less-than-lethal” weapons on peaceful protesters—including unarmed parents—was unreasonable and reckless.
Gluck is a respected film director whose work includes Persona Non Grata, Oba: The Last Samurai, and Lorelei, and who has served as assistant director on major Hollywood films such as Transformers, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Remember the Titans.
The Gluck family expressed gratitude to the jury and said they hope the verdict sends a message that peaceful protesters—and those who support them—deserve protection, not punishment.